


The Truth We Pursue

by charlietheepic7



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Another Episode, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Akamatsu Kaede/Saihara Shuichi (minor) - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different Mastermind (Dangan Ronpa), Angst, Bisexuality, Blood, Fix-It, Friends to Lovers, Horror, Multi, Murder, New Dangan Ronpa V3 Spoilers, Romance, Slow Burn, allies to friends to lovers, everyone's dying, meme references, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-04-07 03:02:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14071497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charlietheepic7/pseuds/charlietheepic7
Summary: In which Rantaro is a Smart Cookie, Kokichi is treated with an ounce of kindness from his peers, and Kaede gets to be the protagonist we deserve. A fix it.





	1. In Which Rantaro Writes a Letter or Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starring:  
> -A zesty avocado  
> -A good purple boi  
> -Protagonist-kun, now with boobs  
> -SHSL Anxiety  
> -Fan Service  
> -Referenced Incest (Thanks, Kiyo)  
> -Gunslinger Girl  
> -Astro Boy  
> -I Can't Wait to Kill You  
> -Atua Save Us  
> -The Sleepy Lesbian  
> -The Violent Lesbian  
> -Do Robots Have Dicks?  
> -Not Your Momma  
> -A Good, Pure Boi  
> -Depression  
>   
> With cameos to come by:  
> Kaede's Cool Gay Dads

            Despite his laidback and carefree attitude, Rantaro was neither of those things. In fact, this whole “Killing Game” had him more nervous than ever before. Even backpacking across the Alps again would be preferable.

            But that was why he was here. Rantaro frowned down at the stationary on his desk. He needed to make an alliance and fight back against his paranoia. Because, for whatever reason, he owned the Survivor’s Perk over his smarter and more talented classmates. He remembered the Ultimate Hunt when no one else did. And worst of all, he had that letter, supposedly written by himself, speaking of things past-him shouldn’t know, telling him not to trust anyone.

            But if he couldn’t trust anyone, how could he trust a letter of unknown origins?

            Sure, it _said_ it was from him, but he couldn’t be sure. Rantaro frowned, bringing out his second monopad and flicking it on. The letter wasn’t long. It was typed, so he couldn’t analyze his handwriting, and it didn’t use any particular writing quirks or phrases only he would know. It did mention the Ultimate Hunt, an event that only Rantaro seemed to remember, but there was the other problem: his memory loss was artificial.

            You can’t just retain perfect memories of your life, yet forget the one thing that defines you as _you_. When he considered the fact that no one else remembered this “Ultimate Hunt”…

            It became highly likely that everyone else had memories stolen too.

            To what extent, Rantaro didn’t know. He didn’t remember much about the Ultimate Hunt, only that someone had been chasing him and it had happened a while ago. But that contradicted his last memories before waking up in this school. He had been buying supplies before leaving for El Salvador. No fear, no sense of urgency, just business as usual. If he was running away, wouldn’t he be terrified?

            Yes. Rantaro wasn’t shaken easily, but the Ultimate Hunt inspired more fear from him than every mobster and gangster he’d ever met combined.

            So if he wasn’t fleeing from the Ultimate Hunt during his last supply trip, it meant that he could be missing years of his life. But how many exactly?

            There were no calendars here, a deliberate action on Monokuma’s part. Was there any other way to tell the date? Rantaro didn’t have any new scars and he didn’t look different from his memory. His hair looked the same, and he was the same height. He stopped growing last year though… He frowned again and leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.

            Maybe… he could use the sky? The stars changed all year around, so they determine what month it is, or at least what hemisphere they were in. Rantaro only used GPS to travel before, so his knowledge of the star charts was a little rusty, but Momota would know, right? He was the Ultimate Astronaut after all. Gokuhara might know too; he’d lived out in the wild for decades, so if Momota didn’t know, he would.

            But could Rantaro trust either of them? The letter in the Survivor’s Perk claimed that the Mastermind was among them, manipulating and plotting against them. The chances that he would choose to trust the Mastermind were low, 1 in 15, but the statistic got higher the more people he chose to trust.

            So he’d trust only a few people. One, maybe two, but no more. Because for some reason, whoever gave him that Perk was determined to keep him away from his classmates, to keep him from trusting them and for them to become suspicious of him. But he refused to let the Mastermind manipulate him.

            Who should he ally with? Rantaro opened his normal monopad and flipped to his classmate’s profiles. Some he marked out right away: Yumeno was slothful and would probably be an easy victim. Gokuhara, while strong and caring, was too dimwitted and easily manipulated. Hoshi was too suicidal to be trusted. If a killer targeted him, he’d allow them to kill him without caring about what would happen to the rest of them. Rantaro didn’t know enough about Momota to say if he was trustworthy; Momota acted friendly to everyone, but had a temper and was quick to jump the gun. As for Yonaga, she seemed a bit… extreme. He preferred not to deal with her at all if he could help it.

            Tojo was a possibility, but Rantaro had no idea how to gain her loyalty or if she’d stay loyal to him. And who’s to say that her most recent “master” wasn’t the one to trap them all here? No, she wasn’t very trustworthy.

            Iruma… had potential. If he ignored the majority of her personality. But she could easily invent the things that they’d need to break out—weapons, and EMP devices, and maybe something destroy the wall surrounding them.

            He knew nothing about Harukawa and doubted he would get to know more; she didn’t want to get to know any of them, actively avoiding everyone. Suspicious, but not overly so. She could just not trust the rest of them, which is understandable. He’d leave her alone if she left him alone.

            Definitely NOT Keebo. As nice as the robot seemed, he was… well, a robot. His systems could be hacked. He may be used to spy on them through Keebo’s eyes and ears, without even knowing. His personality could be deleted and turned into a killing machine in a way that no human could be.

            Oma… now, there was an idea. Rantaro rubbed his chin. He might be an annoying bastard, but he made a lot of good points, like when he verbally attacked Kaede for trying to continue through the Escape Tunnel. He cruelly manipulated her, but he brought up a good point—that she hadn’t cared about the feelings of the people following her. And she’d even realized it and apologized, helping her to be a better leader for all of them. Mostly likely because he was the Ultimate Supreme Leader, emphasizing the word “leader.” It was his job, but since Oma didn’t trust anyone here, it was almost like he was trying to teach Akamatsu. But also… Rantaro could safely say that Oma was one of, if not the, smartest in their group. But how would he convince him to help?

            Out of everyone, Saihara would be the most useful during an investigation, though Rantaro hoped they’d never get there. But… Saihara didn’t trust him. He’d made it very clear today when Rantaro had tried to talk to him and Akamatsu. Not only that, but when Rantaro had overheard him and Akamatsu talking, he’d learned that Saihara had only ever solved one murder before. One murder? Saihara had gotten the Ultimate Detective title from _one_ murder!?

            He couldn’t believe it. Either the requirements for Ultimate Detective were really low, or Saihara was hiding something.

            And that left Akamatsu. Out of everyone, she was most likely to get killed first. She’s smart and charismatic, able to get most of the class to follow her with very little effort. Her unending determination to escape with everyone and keep the Killing Game from happening would surely piss off whoever’s in charge. If he were the Mastermind, he’d want her out of the way as soon as possible. Not only would her death disrupt the group’s unity, but it would completely destroy Saihara, if Rantaro was reading their interactions right.

            Out of all of them, she was least likely to be the Mastermind.

            His mind decided, Rantaro wrote on the stationary in front of him.

_Akamatsu—_

_I want to talk to you about my missing memories and the remaining time limit. Meet me by the picnic tables outside after the nighttime announcement has gone off. Please don’t tell anyone you’re meeting with me or bring anyone with you; I don’t know who else to trust._

_—Amami_

            Folding the letter, Rantaro scrawled Akamatsu’s name on the front and set it aside before copying down a similar message onto another sheet of paper. He needed their help if they were going to trick the Mastermind into revealing themselves.

            It was the only way to beat this Killing Game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Notes:  
> -Pretty much all of Rantaro's assumptions about the other characters were based off my own thoughts when I met them.  
> -No wait, that's wrong. When I met Oma, I thought "Well, you're going to become a meme."  
> -The reason Rantaro forgot Shirogane and Korekiyo is because I hate them. I am still coming to terms with the fact that I will have to write them fairly.


	2. In Which Kaede Responds

            Kaede crinkled the letter in her hands as she watched the clock. The letter had slipped under her door an hour before the Night Time Announcement, and now after rereading it over and over again, it was almost time to meet with Amami. Kaede still wasn’t sure if she wanted to go.

            Of course she wanted to help him! Even though she and Amami hadn’t spent much time together, they were still friends and she really wanted to help him recover his memories. But with the time limit a day away and Amami asking her not to tell or bring anyone… she hated suspecting her friends, but he was acting very suspicious.

            She bit her lip. What would her Dads do? 

            Her father wouldn’t even hesitate to ignore Amami’s request. He’d probably lecture her for even considering meeting with him alone. She could hear his voice now—“You’re in the middle of a life and death situation, and you’re choosing to put yourself into further danger!?” But father would also avoid and ignore everyone to keep from being murdered himself. 

            But Papa… Papa would help. He wouldn’t even think about, if it meant helping a friend. And how could Kaede claim to be on her classmates’ side, to fight the Mastermind and end the Killing Game for them, if she didn’t believe in her friends?

            But she’d still be cautious. Taking out a sheet of stationary, Kaede wrote down a quick message saying that she was going to meet with Amami and left it on top of her desk. That way, if Amami… did anything and the Killing Game began, Saihara would find it in his investigation.

            Nodding to herself, Kaede slipped on her backpack and left her room, locking the door behind her. Her eyes landed on Saihara’s door when she turned and, despite the immense desire in her stomach to tell Saihara where she was going, she walked past it and out of the building.

            Amami waited for her under the pergola (2), sitting at one of the picnic tables. He waved at her. Steeling her nerves, Kaede waved back and approached, feeling the weight of the deadline pushing down on her.

            Or maybe, it was the shotput ball in her backpack weighing her down.

            She greeted him with a smile. “Hey, Amami-kun,” she said, sliding onto the bench across from him. “You wanted to speak with me about your memories, right?” She wanted to bring up the deadline right away, but it would be rude not to address his memories first.

            He nodded. “Yeah.”

            Kaede waited for Amami to continue, but when he didn’t, she asked, “Did you… remember something new?” Something that could help them escape?

            “What? Oh, no, I didn’t…” he hesitated, biting his lip. “I actually wanted to ask you… what’s the last thing you remember before you woke up here?”

            “The last thing…” she frowned, cupping her chin as she tried to remember. For some reason, the memory felt fuzzy and far off. “I think… it was just another day at home. It was a Sunday, so I didn’t have school. I ended up practicing Franz Liszt’s _Piano Sonata in B. Minor_ all day until my parents came home from work and then… then…” She couldn’t remember. They’d all sat down to have dinner and her Papa gave her something, but she couldn’t remember what it was, or what happened after it! “I don’t know.”

            Amami nodded, like he was expected this. “Do you remember the date when this happened?”

            “It was February 16th, why?”

            “Because my last memory before coming here happened on February 28th.”

            What was he trying to say? It was only twelve days; it wasn’t like it was months or years. Just because their kidnappings happened less than two weeks apart—Wait.

            “If I was kidnapped before you were, than they would have had to keep me unconscious for at least 12 days, but there’s no evidence that I was. No muscular dystrophy, no sudden bouts of fatigue, no soreness or aching, so it can’t be that. The only ever explanation would  be… wiping my memory. And given how fuzzy the memory is, I could be missing months’ worth of memories… _or even years_.” A bone-racking shudder travelled across her entire body. “In fact, it makes even more sense… Have you ever heard of a school called “Hope’s Peak Academy”?”

            Amami’s brow furrowed at the non sequitur. “It sounds familiar, but it hardly seems relevant.”

            “But it is, because Hope’s Peak Academy is the only school in the world that uses the title “Ultimate” to describe their students. It’s a huge honor; people who graduate are pretty much guaranteed any job they could possibly want and the populous even calls the students “representatives of hope.” Yet not a single person here has even mentioned Hope’s Peak, not even saying that they’ve been accepted, but somehow they all have Ultimate titles.”

            “So you’re saying that we aren’t just missing memories of our kidnappings… but also our memories of this school?” Amami cupped his chin, thinking. “That seems a little farfetched; I personally can’t see myself dropping everything just to go to this school, but let’s say you’re right. Why would Monokuma want to wipe our memories of Hope’s Peak?”

            The true realization of their situation crashed down on her and Kaede shuddered, pressing a hand over her heart. Her stomach rolled and her eyes stung, just from the mere idea of it. She didn’t want it to be true… but it probably was, since it was the worst possible possibility.  “Because despair.”

            “Despair?”

            “How do you think we’d react, if we had found this out halfway through the Killing Game?” She asked, eyes unfocused, voice soft. “Half our classmates dead, then Monokuma reveals that we had all gone to school together—no, that we had all been friends, yet we’d killed each other in cold blood.” Kaede clenched her fingers tight and rotated her wrists, a nervous habit she’d picked up before her first performance. The tic broke through the small bought of despair the idea had caused.

            For once, Amami’s cool was shaken. He brushed a trembling hand through his hair and clenched his jaw. “That… that would be horrible,” he admitted, deep voice sounding strained. He stared off into the distance. “And it definitely sounds like something Monokuma would do.”

            “Of course he would; he’s already done it before.”

            His head snapped back to her, eyes narrowed. “What makes you say that?”

            Biting her lip, Kaede looked away. Should she tell him? She barely even knew Amami and she’d been keeping this secret for as long as she was alive, at least from friends. She’d promised, and her promise was her bond.

But maybe… she didn’t have to tell him everything. She didn’t have to explain how she knew, not in depth, thereby keeping her promise. She nodded. “You know about the Tragedy, right?”

“The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History that happened 15 years ago, correct?”

            “Yeah. During the Tragedy, a lot of horrible things happened: nukes launched, people crucified, countries crumbled, oceans poisoned. And all of it was led by one woman: Enoshima Junko. In an attempted to throw the world into further despair, Enoshima infiltrated the class of 78 to enact a Killing Game just like this one. The class of 78 was trapped inside of Hope’s Peak, waiting for the Tragedy outside to calm down, and that’s when Enoshima struck. She stole their memories and forced them to kill each other, and the same thing happened during the Killing Game that involved the Remnants of Despair.”

            “I think I remember that one. That was the one where the Remnants trapped 16 members of the Future Foundation in their headquarters and unleashed an attacker among them. But I don’t recall that their memories were stolen too…”

            Kaede shook her head. Everything he just said was wrong. “That’s incorrect; the Remnants of Despair were not the Masterminds behind the Future Foundation Killing Game. But even if they were, that’s not the Killing Game I was referring too. I meant the one where the Remnants were the participants, not the Masterminds.”

            Amami blinked in confusion, but before he could say anything, a familiar laugh rang out across the yard. “Nee-heehee~! Am I _interrupting_ something~?” Oma popped out of nowhere, slamming his hands hard onto the picnic table. Kaede and Amami jumped back, the later finally shaking the last of the despair that had gotten its claws into him. “Oh, are you two having a scandalous rondevu out under the _beautiful_ night sky? Amami-chan, I never took you for the type! And Akamatsu-chan! Why, what would Saihara-chan think about you cheating on him like this!? Shame on you!”

            “O-Oma-kun!” Kaede sputtered helplessly. “What—Where did you—There’s nothing going on between me and Saihara-kun!”

            “Are you sure about that, Akamatsu-chan? Because it sounds like you’re _lying_ to me!” Oma gave one of his trademark grins, clasping his hands behind his head. “You wouldn’t do that, would you?”

            An angry retort was on the tip of her tongue when Amami held up his hand. “That’s enough, Oma.” He turned to her. “I’m sorry for not telling you this, Akamatsu-san, but you weren’t the only one I invited out here tonight. Oma was also supposed to come, but it seems that he followed you outside and has been hiding ever since.”

            “Well, of course I was,” Oma perched on the end of the table, checking his nails for non-existent dirt. “Receiving a letter that said to meet with Amami-chan and not tell anyone? That’s just asking to be killed. Only an idiot would just come out here without taking any precautions.” Oma eyed Kaede and she glared back.

            “I did too take precautions!”

            “Oh, you mean that little love letter you left behind for Saihara-chan? Sorry, I mean a precaution that was actually supposed to _keep_ you from getting murdered.”

            Just as Kaede was about to snap back, Amami spoke. “That’s enough, both of you. I called you both out here so that we could discuss our situations like adults, not so that you two could bicker like children. Do that on your own time, not when everyone’s lives hang in the balance.”

            “Yeah, see, I would if there wasn’t a teeny, tiny, little problem.” Oma held his fingers apart by a centimeter, just to show them how small. “See, I was listening for a good while, and there seems to be an inconsistency in Akamatsu-chan’s testimony; a shocker, I’m sure.”

            “What inconsistency?” Kaede snapped.

            “You know, that little comment about the Remnants of Despair and how they didn’t cause the Future Foundation Killing Game.” Kaede’s jaw dropped.  She had the horrible feeling that she knew where this was going. “Oh yeah, I know things too. See, that information was never given to the public. I know it, because my organization has hacked into the Future Foundation more times than I can count, so I know all about the Killing School Trip and the Future Foundation Killing Game. But how, exactly, do _you_ know?”

            “He’s got a point…” Amami murmured as Kaede scrabbled for a way to explain without breaking her promise. “How do you know about that, Akamatsu-san?”

            “Maybe it’s because she’s the Mastermind,” Oma butted in. “They’d definitely know, after trying so hard to create a copycat crime. And she’s trying to trick you into telling her all your secrets, just so she can betray you—”

            “No, that’s wrong!” Kaede suddenly shouted, startling Oma into silence. A bead of sweat ran down her temple. Keep it vague, she told herself, keep it vague. “No. I’m not the Mastermind, Oma-kun. The reason why I know so much about this is… because my parents work for the Future Foundation. They are a part of a first response team that goes after copycat Killing Games, so it’s their job to know everything about them. They left out the files for the Killing School Life and the Killing School Trip one day when I was a kid and I ended up reading them, pictures and all.” Kaede chuckled morosely. “Needless to say, my parents were surprised to find me bawling my eyes out when they came home. But when they figured out what I had done, they sat me down and explained the whole situation to me, including both Killing Games.”

            “Aw, really?” Oma pouted. “Man, I was expecting something more exciting. Why do you have to have such a boring backstory, Akamatsu-chan?”

            “So you… don’t think I’m the Mastermind?”

            “Nope! Never did!” Oma said with a smile. “I just wanted to see how you’d react. Or maybe not, I am a liar after all~!”

            “Not to get back on track, but… can we get back on track?” Amami asked. “You both mentioned copycat crimes. Could you explain?”

            Kaede nodded. “Yeah, since the death of Enoshima Junko, there’s been dozens of attempted Killing Games done in her name; I think it’s gotten up to the 50s, maybe? Most notably, there has been: a series of games based off the Future Foundation Killing Game perpetuated by the twins Kuwahara Sukeyasu and Kuwahara Risa, the Ultimate Liar and Ultimate Truth respectively; about a dozen and a half Battle Royale type games led by Ikeda Satoko; and over 20 attempts at a Killing Game where either the Future Foundation was able to stop them before the first murder happened or the participants escaped.”

            “Out of all of them, this particular game seems to have the biggest budget,” Oma remarked offhandedly. “Something like this would have taken years. Not only is there the big-ass wall surrounding the school, but having an actual Monokuma is rare. Even the Kuwahara twins couldn’t get a Monokuma, let alone have a machine that can make enough to kill 16 teenagers. Honestly, I’m a bit jealous; just imagining the amount of damage I could do with that much money… it would be a dream come true.”

            “But couldn’t the Mastermind just repurpose one of the destroyed Monokumas from the Tragedy? It took years to kill all of them, they could have saved a few—”

            “Not possible, Akamatsu-chan.” Oma waved his hand through the air. “Those mass produced bots are nothing compared to the Monokuma we’re facing. Their stupid processing systems wouldn’t be able to take the sheer volume that an AI of its standard would need. It would be like trying to put Keeboy’s mind into a toaster!  Can’t be done! …Though, I wouldn’t mind trying, that’d be funny…

            “But honestly, this has to be the best copycat so far!” Oma continued. “They’ve gotten a lot of things right; even most die-hard fans of Enoshima didn’t get this much right! But there’s one thing missing here that’s in both the Killing School Life and the Killing School Trip and it’s extremely important.” He turned to Kaede. “Hey, can you guess what it is, Akamatsu-chan? Can you? Can you? Can you?”

            Something missing…? Kaede’s brows furrowed. There was the Killing Game, a physical Monokuma, being trapped in certain space with no way of accessing the outside world. Did he mean something more metaphorical or physical? It should be something she noticed, so she started with physical. There was a school, and dorms. She found Monocoins just laying around everywhere. There were monitors on the walls and—

            “What’s missing… you’re talking about the video cameras, aren’t you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Notes:  
> 1\. I’m taking Japanese classes in college, and my text book says that there are two ways of referring to a father: “Otousan” and “Papa”. So I’m using both.  
> 2\. I have no idea what that little picnic area outside the dorms is supposed to be called, but the closest thing I could find was a pergola, described as “a garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway, or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are trained.”  
> 3\. Despite the fact that I am an idiot and played NDRV3 before DR1 or DR2, I did notice how odd it was that, despite Monokuma clearly having some type of hidden cameras, no one pointed them out or tried to look for them. 
> 
> A/N: This was exhausting... I swear, I was half ready to stop when Oma showed up, but then I'd have to write even more next chapter, and that's from Oma's point of view, which is going to be hard enough on it's own.


	3. In Which Kokichi is a Suspicious Boi

            Kokichi wanted to roll his eyes, so he did. “Finally! Geeze, Akamatsu-chan, you’re not very smart, are you?” The pianist glared at him and Kokichi preened under the attention. “But yes, you are correct. Even after several days of searching, I have yet to find a single camera, hidden or otherwise.”

            “But isn’t that a good thing?” Akamatsu asked. “After all, the cameras in the Killing School Life were used to broadcast the Killing Game to the entire world, while in the Killing School Trip they were used to broadcast the game to the Future Foundation.”

            “That would imply that we’re not being watched…”

            Kokichi groaned. Seriously, why weren’t these two getting it!? Did he have to spell it out for them!? “Except for the fact that we are obviously being watched by Monokuma and those cubs! Did you forget them? They keep popping up whenever something interesting happens, and, considering how these “class trials” operate, Monokuma would have to know everything about a case beforehand in order to be a fair judge.” Kokichi could see that they still couldn’t get it. “So, how about we continue this conversation away from the visible, probably bugged structure, okay?”

            Neither one looked altogether willing, but both stood. “Then where should we go?” Akamatsu asked.

            “The grass should be fine,” Kokichi said, waving his hand dismissively. “As long as we chose a random spot in the yard away from any man-made structures, we should be fine.” There’s no way the Mastermind would be able to bug every square foot of grass just in case some of the students were out there.

            Sighing, Amami led them around the school. Kokichi hesitated behind, taking the time to stomp one of the tiny flying Monokumas that wandered around. He ground it into the pavement before running to catch up. They went out into the grass across from generator building. “Does this work then?” Amami asked.

            “It’s fine, I guess,” Kokichi flopped down into the grass, Akamatsu following him gracefully.

            She looked at him. “How much of our conversation do you think the Mastermind heard?”

            “Who knows? Until we figure out where the hidden cameras are, we’re flying blind.”

            Amami sat, his long legs folding under him crisscross style. “If I had to guess… the most likely place to have them would be in the monitors. There’s one in every room, after all, and if we tried to break one, Monokuma would accuse us of sabotage and make up a rule against destroying them. Or maybe Monokuma has microscopic cameras following us around everywhere.”

            He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “…Were you dropped as a child?”

            “What!? It’s a perfectly reasonable hypothesis!”

            Akamatsu grimaced. “It’s… really not.”

            “See! Even Akamatsu-chan agrees with me! And that _should_ never happen!”

            “Even if a camera that small does exist—which it doesn’t, I can guarantee that—any video it does pick up will be a blur; not even a good blur either, where you can vaguely tell what’s going on. It would be a blur of everything only a few centimeters away, so you’d never be able to actually tell what it’s aimed at.”

            “Plus, that doesn’t even go into the fact that we’d inhale most of them just by moving around—”

            “Okay!” Amami said, holding up his hands as if to ward off their double attack. “I get it; the mini camera idea is dumb. Fine. But you both have to admit that Keebo is suspicious, right?”

            Three, two, on—“What are you talking about?” Akamatsu scoffed. “Keebo-kun would never betray us. He’s our friend!”

            “Sure, he might not willingly betray us, but you have to admit it’s suspicious,” Amami said. “He is a robot, after all.”

            Kokichi fake-gasped. “Amami-chan! That’s robophobic! Keeboy would be ashamed to know you said such a thing!”

            “Oma-kun, the day we met you asked him if he had a penis. You don’t have any room to talk.”

            He shrugged. “Eh, what can I say? It wasn’t boring.”

            Amami rolled his eyes. “To get back on track, Keebo isn’t human. And while the Mastermind might have a human spy among us, if not be among us themselves, only Keebo has the ability to physically record our actions.”

            “…He might not even be aware of it,” Akamatsu said. “Plus, with the AIs in Monokuma and the Monokubs, the Mastermind could definitely create something as complicated as Keebo-kun… Is that why you keep bullying him, Oma-kun?”

            “Nope!” Kokichi lied. “I’m just doing it for fun. But… we all agree, yeah? Keebo’s suspicious?”

            Amami and Akamatsu glanced at each other and nodded. Akamatsu rubbed her arm. “Yeah. I don’t want to suspect him, but… it is weird how his Ultimate talent is just being a robot. I doubt—” she paused—“the Headmaster of Hope’s Peak would accept someone who’s talent is existing.” The group fell into silence, and while Kokichi was glad that they were finally accepting the threat that Keebo poised, he had better things to do than explain everything to them.

            “Well, if that’s everything…” Kokichi stood, brushing off his pants. “I’ll be leaving now—”

            “Wait!” Akamatsu called out, panicked. “We still need to discuss the time limit!”

            “What’s there to discuss?” he asked. “By tomorrow night, someone will either be dead or we’ll all be killed. If you’re not planning to kill someone yourself, then pray someone else does, otherwise we’ll all be _dead_.”

            Akamatsu stood and grabbed his sleeve, preventing him from leaving. “I don’t think so! We need to work together!”

            “I never had any intention of _working together_ ,” Kokichi snapped. “In case you forgot, we’re in an elimination game. Cooperation with a rich bitch and a metrosexual hipster is a waste of time.”

            “Even if cooperating will allow you to beat the Mastermind?”

            Kokichi turned to Amami. He’d been skeptical about the whole Mastermind idea since he first overheard Saihara and Akamatsu talk about it, but Amami’s insistence on their existence was odd, even if he didn’t know much about the mysterious boy. “Please, like you even have a plan. What makes you so convinced that _you_ have the ability to defeat the Mastermind?”

            “Because, I have this.” Amami held out his monopad and, before Kokichi could scoff and declare that _everyone_ had one of those, he turned it only. Instead of displaying his name, like everyone else’s, it read _Survivor’s Perk._

            Both he and Akamatsu crowded around the pad. He quickly flipped through the map, noting that the school building had 5 floors and that his talent lab was nowhere to be found. Then, they found the letter. Skimming it, Kokichi came to one conclusion. “You do know that the Mastermind definitely knows you have this, right?”

            “Of course. But they are expecting me to keep this a secret. But since you two know… we have the advantage. I have a plan to take down the Mastermind, but it will only work if I have two coconspirators.”

            “Two?” Akamatsu finally looked up from the letter. “Why do you need two? Wouldn’t it be safer with one?”

            “Don’t be dumb, Akamatsu-chan, it’s in case one of us is the Mastermind,” Kokichi scoffed. “What I want to know is why us? Out of all the Ultimates you could have chosen, why Akamatsu-chan? Why me?” How did he narrow it down? By skill? By honesty? He could have chosen any of them, even Saihara, the Ultimate Detective, but for some reason, Amami chose Kokichi. Why!?

            “Because out of all our classmates, you two are the most likely to get killed pissing off the Mastermind.” His words held an air of finality, like it was the inevitable conclusion. “Akamatsu-san, by trying to get us to work together as a group, and Oma-kun, by working alone to beat the Mastermind at their own game.” Okay, that was fair, Kokichi could admit that. “Outside of that, Oma-kun is probably the smartest person in our group by far, and people actually like and listen to Akamatsu-san.”

            “But, what about Saihara-kun?” Akamatsu asked. “If you wanted someone smart who people like, why not him?”

            “Saihara-kun is the literal embodiment of anxiety. I need people with a level head who won’t break on me the first sign of difficulty.”

            “You make a lot of good points, Amami-chan,” Kokichi said, holding a finger in front of his mouth. “But your points are only as good as your plan, so tell me; how are we defeating the Mastermind?”

            “I’ll only tell you after you both agree to help. I’m sorry, but no one can know about this; I need your word that you won’t share anything about my plan. To anyone.” He glanced at Akamatsu, who was obviously the biggest chance of a leak.

            Kokichi smirked. “Well, of course I’ll help you, my beloved Amami-chan! You can trust me! I’d _never_ lie to you.”

            “I…” Akamatsu hesitated. “I don’t know… I really don’t want to keep any secrets from Saihara-kun…”

            “I know and you can leave if you want to. But Akamatsu-san… I really need your help.”

            Those seemed to be the words to get to her. “…Okay. What do you need us to do?”

            Amami smiled. “We’re going to fake a murder.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Notes:  
> 1\. Because I am dumb, I started playing chapter 1 of DRV3 before playing the first two games. After Kaede died, I went back and played the first two, and yeah, the lack of cameras became hella suspicious to me, as did Keebo's not being a murder victim. You'd think that he'd be the first attacked, with the murderer not really considering it murder since robot.  
> 2\. Because the mini monokuma things revealed in chapter 6 of DRV3 are dumb, they don't exist here.
> 
> A/N: Sorry if any of the reasoning seems off in this chapter; Kokichi is really hard to write and he ended up more serious than I wanted...


	4. In Which Rantaro Dies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Titles:  
> • Oma: We all die, either kill yourself or get killed!  
> • Momota: People die when they get killed!  
> • Oma: You know, I feel like this could have been better planned.  
> Amami: Shut up, we’re on a time limit.

         A/N: I keep forgetting to do this, but thank you to https://ultimate-aesthetics.tumblr.com/ for this lovely aesthetics board they made for this story!

* * *

* * *

 

            It was an hour before they all were going to die and Rantaro hid his fear well as Momota and Chabashira argued heatedly back and forth. He sat backwards on his chair, resting his chin on the headrest and resisting the urge to sigh. Anxiety coiled in his muscles and he flexed his hands. God, the waiting was going to kill him before their fake murder plot happened! When was Oma going to give him the signal? He should have mapped out everyone's locations by now.

            Momota slammed his hand on the table. Rantaro and Harukawa exchanged a look. He should have joined Gokuhara in the video room when he offered. “I’m telling you, we have to strike!” Momota shouted. “If we attack first, we can get the upper hand—”

            “Upper hand!?” Chabashira shouted back. “Degenerate male! With what, our bare hands!? As if we’d ever be able to win like that!”

            “If you continue to think like that, then we’ll never win! We have to band together!”

            “With. What. Weapons!?”

            “What about guerilla warfare?”

            That stopped them dead in their argument, both Ultimates turning to Rantaro. “What?” Momota asked. “Gorillas? We don’t have any gorillas. Unless you count Gonta…”

            Rantaro shook his head. “Not gorilla, guerilla. It’s a series of irregular military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, and hit-and-run tactics.” Rantaro rubbed his face. “If we had more time, we could booby-trap the halls, build barricades, figure out their strengths and weaknesses.” But there was only an hour left, so that idea wasn’t feasible. Why did he even speak up about it? He’d never used guerilla tactics before, but now Momota probably thought he was an expert on it and demand he help them. 

            That didn’t stop Momota from running with it. “Perfect! We should run tripwires all throughout the halls, and when the Exisals fall, we attack them with pipes!”

            Rantaro rolled his eyes. Seriously, where was Oma? Being bait was preferable to this.       

            “Umm…” Yumeno spoke up for the first time. “Wouldn’t the Exisals just destroy whatever we used to trip them?”

            “Not if we bolt them into the walls!”

            “Then they’d just rip them out of the concrete…”

            “It doesn’t matter either way,” Hoshi spoke up. “Didn’t you hear him? We don’t have any time left. We only have an hour until the time limit runs out.” He turned away. “Face it. We’re out of options. We're... going to have to sacrifice someone.”

            “~ _Orrrrr_ , you could all just kill yourselves!”

            Heads turned and standing in the doorway was Oma, smiling carefree as can be. Violet eyes met his and Rantaro nodded. As soon as Oma left, he would too.

            “The hell are you talking about, Kokichi!?” Momota yelled, clenching his fist.

            “Well, you were talking about ways to fight back against Monokuma, _right_?” Oma threw his hands out. “Then kill yourselves before he can kill you! At least then you’ll die knowing you had an effect rather than just throwing your lives away.”

            “That doesn’t even make sense!” Momota said. “Sure, we have the odds set against us, but if we kill ourselves, we die for sure! We need to fight; it’s the only thing we can do.”

            "Of course it doesn't make sense! It! Doesn't! Have! To!" Oma stomped his foot with each word. He seemed honestly angry at everyone in the room. "Try to fight, murder each other; you're only prolonging the inevitable! The only result of the Killing Game is despair, for _everyone involved_. At least if you all killed yourselves, then the game would be much shorter for the rest of us who can actually think!"

            "I'm getting real tired of your shit, Kokichi!"

            "Then kill me, you pussy—"

            "Enough." Hoshi's voice rang out over their shouting. "Oma, get the hell out. You're not welcome here."

            "Oh, I see. I'm excluded from your little club." His emotions flipped and Oma faked a sigh, big and overdramatic. “Well, fine. If you want to die pathetic, inconsequential deaths, I suppose you can do whatever you want. But don’t say I didn’t try to help!”

            “You didn’t,” Harukawa told him. “Leave. _Now_.”

            “Alright, alright, I’m going!” Oma waved. “I’ll be upstairs if anyone needs me. Buh-bye now!” Oma strolled out the door and it was like everyone in the room deflated.

            Momota sighed. “Geeze… I wish he didn’t try to do that… It's like every time he opens his mouth, he knows the exact thing to piss me off. Why does he have to make everything more difficult?”

            “He’s trying to get attention.” Surprisingly, it was Harukawa who spoke. “I’ve dealt with kids like him in my orphanage. They never got enough attention from their parents so they try to get attention in other ways, even if it’s negative or harms them.” She shrugged. “Just ignore him and he’ll stop.”

            Momota rubbed the back of his neck. "That's easier said than done. But I'll try..."

            Rantaro's eyebrows rose. Was Oma being neglected at home? How awful… He’d think about it later, when lives weren't on the line. Rantaro stood. “Hey, I’m going to the bathroom. Don’t wait up for me, alright?”

            Momota nodded at him and returned to his conversation with Chibashira and Yumeno, plotting where to get strong enough tripwires. The only one who watched him leave was Harukawa, tucked away in the back of the room.

            Glancing around the empty hall, Rantaro rounded the corner to the side entrance of the library. His hand was shaking, but he stopped it, clenching his fist tightly as he opened the sliding door.

            The library was empty, as expected, but Rantaro glanced around it anyway. Books were stacked haphazardly around the room, except for those at the top of the shelves opposite of the door. Those were neatly organized and Rantaro suppressed a smirk. Looks like Akamatsu and Oma set up the trap with no problems then.

            When Rantaro had suggested the idea of faking a murder, he never guessed that Akamatsu would be able to come up with such a detailed murder plot. It kind of worried him that she thought up something so complicated in only a few minutes, but it was useful. And most importantly, it had a low chance of success. After all, it’s near impossible to aim from a different room.

            So, if the Mastermind wanted the only murder plot happening to succeed, they’d have to step in themselves.

            Or at least, that was the theory Rantaro held. The Mastermind definitely wanted Rantaro dead; he held more information than the other players, throwing the game in his favor. Unless the Mastermind wanted him to share information, they’d have to kill him.

            Assuming, of course, that they’d be willing to break their rules in order to get the killing started. Akamatsu was certain they would, Oma wasn’t, and Rantaro… well, between twirling his thumbs waiting for the clock to run out and this, he’d risk his life any day.

            He had to get out—his sisters were waiting for him after all—but not at the cost of 15 other people.

            Walking further into the room, Rantaro jumped as an ear-bleeding song started blaring from the TV monitors. He glanced up. Was that… an animation about murder? He grimaced. How crass. Still, this was bad… Rantaro wouldn’t be able to hear over all the noise if someone snuck up behind him. He would have to keep his head on the swivel.

            Right then. To work. Rantaro grabbed the bookcase without any books on top and swung it outwards, revealing a hidden black-and-white door behind it. His shoulders sagged in relief. Even after Akamatsu had confirmed its existence, Rantaro still hadn’t been sure the door was real until this very moment. The door was plain, black-and-white color scheme aside—solid metal with a card-reader attachment. He reached out for it.

            A blinding flash distracted him.

            Blinking the stars out of his eyes, Rantaro turned to see a camera taped in place on a shelf. So that’s how Akamatsu was going to lure him away from the door. She hadn’t told him beforehand, claiming that it was better for him to look surprised—though Rantaro believed it was she hadn’t actually thought of a way yet—but if there was going to be photographic evidence… Yes, it was better to look surprised.

            Letting the bookshelf swing back into place, Rantaro knelt before the camera. It was half-covered in duct tape and Rantaro fumbled for a minute trying to find the flash button, resulting in it taking another picture. He frowned, unease rising in him. He was right under the ramp after all… If Akamatsu decided to kill him…

            No. That wouldn’t happen. Even if her personality did a complete 180, Oma still knew about the trap. She’d get caught in moments. Still, it was better to be careful.

            Rantaro turned around just in time to see a shotput ball hurtling down towards his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This could have been better, I’ll admit that, but it’s already been over a week and I spent most of that time mapping out the next three chapters (My schedule is going 3 chapters of this story, one chapter of another, outline, repeat). I feel like, once again, my logic doesn’t quite come across how I want it to. If there’s something people don’t understand (or major to minor mistakes in spelling or grammar), please message me so I can fix it.


	5. In Which Kaede Finds a Body

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: While some of you may have been clever enough to figure this out through the few clues I’ve left so far, I wanted to make something extremely clear: I have completely abandoned the “True Ending” in the original NDRV3. This is not the TV show idea presented in the original canon. I did not like that ending (for reasons I will explain if anyone wants to ask), so I’ve changed it so the killing game of NDRV3 takes place in the same canon as the other games, only 15 years after the events of the Tragedy. I’m sorry if this makes you angry, but I’m fairly confident that the story I have to replace it can make up for this disappointment.

            Kaede’s grip on her broom was tight as she forced herself to clean instead of worrying. Saihara watched her from the front of the room as she swept leaves into a pile. It was fine. Everything was going to be fine, she told herself, ignoring the sinking pit forming in her stomach. Amami would be okay. Out of the three of them, he was physically strongest, he’d be able to fight off the Mastermind if it came down to it. And if the Mastermind didn’t appear, Oma was smart; he no doubt had a backup plan ready. She hoped.

            Ah, this was so frustrating! She pressed her fist into the side of her head. She knew when she volunteered to be the murderer that the anticipation was going to be the worst part, but nothing could be worse than this, pretending you’re about to murder a friend!

            What would her parents think? She felt their disapproval as if they were in the room with her, not God-knows how far away watching through a TV screen. Kaede could see her sister, Kaori, pulling her hair out in frustration. Her father was probably pacing the floor, not even watching except to glare occasionally, while her papa wouldn’t dare look away, begging under his breath for her not to do it.

            Her backpack shifted and the shotput ball inside rolled into her back. She wouldn’t do it. She knew she wouldn’t kill her friend, but her family didn’t and the fact that they could see her betray them like this was almost too much to bare.

            At least they’d never know the truth. That if Amami hadn’t contacted her and Oma last night, she would have set up her trap to kill the Mastermind. That she would have killed Amami by accident, trying to protect her friends.

            “Kaede? Are you alright?”

            That’s right, she wasn’t alone right now; Saihara was with her. Kaede schooled her expression to the best of her ability, setting the broom down and walking back towards him. “I’m fine, Saihara-kun. As fine as I can be, anyway.” She sat down across from him. “This whole thing is… really making me nervous.” As was the fact that she was lying to Saihara. How could she encourage him to find the truth when she herself was lying to him? But as much as she wished she could tell him, she wouldn’t. She didn’t want him to think badly of her.

            Saihara reached out and held her hand, a blush crossing his face as he smiled at her. “It’s going to be alright, Akamatsu-san. We’ll catch the Mastermind and then this whole thing will be over—”

            “What’s going on in _here_ ~? Is Saihara-chan putting the moves on Akamatsu-chan?” Appearing in the doorway like an apparition, Oma sauntered into the room, smirking at them. He gasped dramatically. “Is he going to try to take her innocence!? How scandalous!”

            “O-Oma-kun!” Saihara snatched his hand back like it had been burned. “What are you doing here!?”

            Oma blinked innocently. “Why, Akamatsu-chan asked me to! Didn’t she tell you?”

            Saihara stared at her with wide eyes, but before either of them could say anything, Kaede spoke. “I asked him to create a list of the locations for everyone in the building. To help narrow things down.” She looked away guiltily. “Did you do it, Oma-kun?”

            “Of course, of course!” He waved a piece of paper in her face, pulling it away when she tried to snatch it. “You know, I was really suspicious when you first asked me to do it, but now I understand! You just wanted to guarantee a little alone time with Saihara-chan!” He dodged her next attempt to get the paper. “Pop the old cherry before you die! Do the horizontal tango! _Make whoopee._ ”

            Saihara’s face was a bright scarlet as Kaede finally grabbed the list. She read it, the TV turning on and playing a horrible song in the background. So, Tojo, Keebo, Shirogane, Shinguji, and Iruma were in the dining hall; Momota, Harukawa, Hoshi, Chabashira, Yumeno, Gokuhara, and Amami were in the Game Room; and Yonaga couldn’t be found. Suspicious. “Is this accurate?” she asked Oma.

            “Just got back from downstairs,” he confirmed. “They were having a little “we’re all going to die” party down there. It was total ass.”

            “Alright, thank you Oma-kun,” she turned away and waited for Oma to leave. He did not. “You… you can go now, Oma-kun.” He was supposed to wait in the hallway downstairs, what was he doing?

            “I don’t think I caaaannnn…” Oma trailed off, putting on his best pout. “See, it suddenly struck me right now—two students, alone in a classroom, when we’re only an hour away from the time limit… it’s the perfect recipe for a murder!” He gave her a look. “How could I leave poor defenseless Saihara-chan alone like that? What if you kill him?”

              He didn’t actually think she would kill Saihara, right? With what, her bare hands? Or… no…

            Oma was talking about Amami. He thought that she would actually take the opportunity to do that.

            “How could you say that!” Saihara stood up for her as the guilt sunk it. Because that was it, wasn’t it? If she didn’t know it was Amami down there, if she thought it was the Mastermind… she would have killed him. “Akamatsu-san would never do such a thing!”

            “Are you sure about that? Are you, are you, are you, _are you_?” Oma got in Saihara’s face, so close they were almost touching. “People would do a lot of things for their friends, right? To protect them, to save them, to make sure they don’t die themselves. Are you sure that she, or you, or anyone wouldn’t be willing to murder in order to keep Monokuma from murdering us all—”

            The alarm in Saihara’s pocket rang loud and clear, cutting Oma off. “The bookcase!” Saihara exclaimed. “Come on, we need to stop them!” Saihara dashed out of the room, leaving Kaede and Oma behind.

            He gestured for her to go. “After you.” He smirked.

            She nodded. “Thank you.” He blinked in surprise. Did he not expect that? After all, now she didn’t have to mime throwing the shotput ball into the vent and make herself look like a murderer in front of her family and probably the world.

            Kaede ran out after Saihara, Oma on her heels. Sprinting down the stairs, Kaede’s heart raced in her chest, from the action and the antispation. What would they see when they opened the door? Amami and the Mastermind fighting? Amami alone? Amami… dead?

            Saihara was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. “Alright, now let’s bust in—”

            “Hey, what are you guys doing here?” Not now, Momota! Kaede couldn’t stop a glare as he walked towards them alone. “Well, never mind that. You guys have perfect timing, we're having a strategy meeting—”

            “Shut your damn trap and move!!” Oma shouted, pushing past Kaede. Shocked into silence, they could only watch as Oma kicked in the door and—

            “Amami-kun!”

            Kaede’s shout froze the two people fighting in the room. One was Amami, who was holding his shoulder and panting, blood slowly soaking out from where his fingers were clamped down tight. And the other… was Shirogane, staring horrified at the five of them just outside the door, holding a shotput ball in her hands.

            “What the hell?” Momota shouted.

Shirogane was too shocked to move, but fortunately Amami wasn’t. He punched Shirogane in the mouth with his good arm. She collapsed to the floor, dropping the shotput ball.

It rolled across the floor until it stopped right at Saihara’s feet. He picked it up. “What’s going on here?” Saihara asked, his voice soft, but still easily heard in the silence of the room.

            Shirogane was too disoriented to answer, so Amami spoke. “Shirogane just tried to kill me.”

            “What!?” exclaimed Momota.

            “I came here to investigate a hidden room I had heard about,” Amami talked right on over Shirogane. “While I was, she came out of nowhere and tried to bash me over the head with that shotput ball. I managed to dodge it, but it still hit my shoulder.” He rolled his left shoulder and grimaced. “I think my collarbone’s cracked…”

            “Ugh…” Shirogane sat up, clutching her head. “What happened…? What are you all doing?”

            “Saihara-kun.” Kaede turned to him. “Maybe we should restrain her before you question her? She did attack Amami-kun…”

            Oma scoffed. “And what are we going to use to restrain her, your bra?”

            “The cameras we set up should definitely prove if she attacked Amami or not, but… she does seem to be the aggressor…” Saihara tugged at his hat down. “We should interrogate her. But, Amami-kun, is your arm okay? We should get that taken care of first.”

            He shook his head. “I’ve had worse. I just want to know why she did this.” Amami glared at Shirogane, who met his stare head on. “So, Shirogane-san? Why did you try to kill me?”

            “It’s not something personal, Amami-kun; I did what I had to do.” Shirogane answered, looking up at them with wide eyes. “It’s what I was hired to do.”

“What you were hired to do?” Saihara asked. “Someone paid you to kill Amami?”

“Hired, forced, asked, it’s all the same now.” She giggled—giggled!—hugging her arms. “Kill him to start the Killing Game, help someone kill him, get him to kill me… So long as Amami-san died or was forced to kill, it really didn’t matter to the Mastermind. But he’s still alive so… I… failed?” Her voice grew increasingly light, breathless. “I failed. I failed, I failed, I failed, I failed—” She repeated the words over and over again like it was all one big word. Kaede swallowed. This was starting to seem all too familiar, almost eerie in its similarities. She hoped she was wrong.

“What the hell is she talking about…?” Kaede had forgotten Momota was even there. “A Mastermind? What is she going on about?”

“She’s means the asshole who trapped us here and is controlling Monokuma,” Oma snapped. “Keep up, you idiot!”

“I failed!” Shirogane laughed. “Oh, I’ll be killed for sure! This is so… So…” Her eyes glazed over and she drooled, her face contorting in near orgasmic pleasure, “ ** _despairing_**.”

Kaede jumped back as if Shirogane burned her. Despair. Oh God, she was despairing. It was like all her worst fears had come true. It hadn’t completely sunk in until this moment. This wasn’t a complex revenge plot or a disguised hostage situation. This was an Junko Enoshima-style Killing Game, created for the sole purpose of despair, complete with their own persona Enoshima. She looked around at the others; Saihara seemed to know what this meant since he looked like he swallowed a raw egg, Momota was clueless, Amami was furious, and Oma’s face was blank except for a small smile. She turned back to Shirogane and her lip curled in disgust. “How horrible.”

            Shirogane looked at her with her glazed, swirling eyes and Kaede resisted the urge to step back. “Oh? It’s ‘horrible’…? But Akamatsu-chan, I thought you had embraced despair too.” Saihara and Momota looked away from her to stared shocked at Kaede. “After all, didn’t you set up your little trap to kill Amami-kun?”

            “You’re lying!” Of course Saihara would immediately come to her defense. Amami and Oma stayed quiet, exchanging a look. Anger twanged in her, but she batted it away; she rather it be her that was ostracized from the group than all of three of them. “I was with Akamatsu-san the entire day and she didn’t do anything that looked like a murder plot!”

            “Are you sure about that?” Shirogane asked. “Didn’t she do anything weird today? Make anything, build anything, take an enormous amount of time to do something completely pointless? Something that made you suspicious, but you pushed it away. Something that made you _suspect_.” She smirked. “Why, I’m sure if you looked in her backpack right now, you’d find a shotput ball, same as mine.”

            “No, you’ve gotta be wrong!” Momota denied. “Kaede would never kill someone! She wants escape with all of us! Tell her, Kaede!” Momota turned to her, obviously waiting to hear her refute Shirogane. Kaede hesitated, looking away. “Kaede? S-She’s wrong, right?”

            “…No. That’s right.” Kaede whispered and, in front of everyone, she reached into her backpack and showed them the shotput ball she’d hidden inside. “I… I didn’t want to do it, but… I’m sorry, Saihara-kun, but you’re plan… it wasn’t enough…” Once she started, she couldn’t stop. All the fear, all the anxiety that had been building up inside of her for the last two days suddenly came pouring out her mouth. She glanced at Saihara, who was staring horrified at her. Shirogane stayed suspiciously quiet. “I didn’t want to kill Amami-kun! But… if he hadn’t—” sent her that letter, talked to her, convinced her to help him catch Mastermind—“If Oma-kun hadn’t—”

            “What does Oma have to do with this?” Amami asked.

            “What the fuck did you do, Kokichi!?”

            “Nee-heehee, why are you looking at me?” Oma giggled, smirk stretching tight across his face. His eyes flickered to her’s, questioning. “I thought we were interrogating Shirogane, not me!”

            “Oma, what did you say to Akamatsu-san?” Amami’s was voice hard, somehow even more serious than usual. Kaede’s brows furrowed. Why was he acting like this…? She’d meant to talk about how Oma refused to leave the room when the alarm went off, keeping her from even having to fake roll the shot. “What did you tell her?”

            “Amami-kun, why do you think Oma-kun has something to do with this?” Saihara asked.

            “Because he’s the reason I’m even here,” came the answer. Oma’s eyes seemed to light up with understanding and… excitement? “He’s the one who told me about the hidden door in this room. He implied that if someone were to intercept the Mastermind on the way to the room, then the Killing Game would stop. It stands to reason that he said something similar to Akamatsu-san.”

            Wait, why were they lying!? They could just tell the truth, tell them that they’d all teamed up and planned this to bring out the Mastermind. Admittedly, they only found a despair-filled spy, but…

            Was that why? Kaede gasped in realization. They hadn’t found the Mastermind yet, so they were hiding their plan, lying directly into the ears of the Mastermind in order to give them more time and keep them hidden for a little while longer. They were in an area that definitely had cameras after all; revealing their alliance here, when no one knew about it yet would be detrimental to any further plans they made. Kaede looked at Amami, then Oma, before nodding.

            “H-He did.” Her words brought all the attention back to her. “O-Oma-kun approached me yesterday, saying how it was a shame we wouldn’t be able to stop the Mastermind.” The lie came out in stops and starts. She bit her lip. “He said… he said that we wouldn’t be able to catch or kill them, since all they’d have to do was call Monokuma to their aid, and that if they weren’t alive… we’d all be able to escape.”

            Saihara looked close to crying. “Akamatsu-san… why didn’t you tell me about this?”

            “Because you truly believed your plan would work,” was the only answer she had. “I didn’t want you to doubt yourself anymore.”

            “Kokichi, you fucking piece of shit!” Momota raised his hand to strike Oma when Amami caught it mid-swing. “Wha—! Rantaro, let go! I’m going to—”

            “Why? Why did you do this, Oma?”

            “Why?” Oma tilted his head to the side innocently. “Because it was fun of course!”

            Amami froze for a second before letting Momota go. “Alright, you can punch him now.”

            Oma darted away from Momota, choosing to stand near Kaede and Saihara for safety. “Hey, it’s not like I’d actually let her kill you!” he whined. “I stayed behind so she wouldn’t drop the ball, right? I just wanted you two to see that you’d get yourselves killed if you kept doing what you’re doing! All your talk of ‘stopping the Killing Game’ and ‘working together’ is just going to piss off the Mastermind and result in your quick death.” He shrugged, looking back at Shirogane who had been deviously silent for a while now. “Admittedly, I didn’t expect for the Mastermind to send their spy after Amami-chan in case Akamatsu-chan missed, but at least we now know for sure that someone’s recording us.”

            “W-What?” Shirogane stuttered, eyes wide. “No, that’s, that’s not true at all!”

            “Really?” Oma retorted. “Then how did you know that Akamatsu-chan has the shotput ball in her backpack? Or that she was planning a murder at all?”

            Shirogane couldn’t seem to answer that, her mouth opening and closing like a fish. Instead, it was Momota who spoke. “Guys, I hate to get us off the topic, but… does anyone else here that?”

            No one spoke, letting silence fill the room. “I… don’t hear anything,” Kaede answered.

            “Yeah, that’s the problem. Shouldn’t that shitty song still be playing?”

            They all looked up at the TV monitor, dark, with no indication that the horrible despair video had ever been playing. “It’s off… Is that a good thing?” Saihara asked.

            Amami’s mouth pressed into a thin line. “I doubt it. We should investigate.”

            They left the room, Amami keeping a tight grip on Shirogane’s arm in case she tried to escape. Voices could be heard from the Game Room, but they ignored it, climbing the stairs instead. Kaede felt the anticipation swell around them, like everyone was holding their breath. Something bad happened, she thought as they walked down the hallway. Something horrible.

            As they exited the other side of the main hall, water ran over their shoes. It was coming from one of the bathrooms. Kaede swallowed hard and continued moving forward, the water soaking into her shoes and socks. It was coming from the boy’s bathroom, flowing out under the door, but she had no time to protest as Momota pushed it open and revealed what was inside.

            On the floor, shiny with water and blue oil, lay Keebo on his front, with a kitchen knife sticking out of his back.

**“A body has been discovered!”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: God, writing Shirogane was hell all in itself. I hope ya’ll don’t hate how I characterized her; I know some people really like her which I don’t understand, but I need her to be crazy for a while. In fact, this entire chapter was hell to write, particularly Kokichi who didn’t want to “confess” anything, so the other characters had to make him.


	6. In Which Kokichi Investigates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starring:  
> -A zesty avocado  
> -A good purple boi  
> -Protagonist-kun, now with boobs  
> -SHSL Anxiety  
> -Fan Service  
> -Referenced Incest (Thanks, Kiyo)  
> -Gunslinger Girl  
> -Astro Boy  
> -I Can't Wait to Kill You  
> -Atua Save Us  
> -The Sleepy Lesbian  
> -The Violent Lesbian  
> \---NULL---  
> -Not Your Momma  
> -A Good, Pure Boi  
> -Depression

**“A body has been discovered! Please assemble in the boy’s bathroom on the first floor.”**

 

Kokichi stood back and watched as more and more people crowded the bathroom doorway. First came Tojo and Shinguji, then Iruma, then the group from the basement—Harukawa, Hoshi, Gokuhara, Chabashira, Yumeno. Yonaga was last—was she the furthest away? Their voices rang out from the hallway.

            “Who was it? Who died?”

            “It was Keebo.”

            “Keebo!?”

            “What!?” A loud, annoying voice shouted and Iruma pushed her way passed the clog in doorway and into the bathroom. She visibly wilted when she saw Keebo’s body only to build her rage back up. “Keebo, I’m… W-Which one of you… which one of you fuckers killed him!?” She snarled, her face growing red. “Which one of you cowardly fuckers did it, huh? Come on, confess!”

            “Like anyone’s going to do that,” Kokichi scoffed. Honestly, how could such a genius be such an idiot? “At least it was just Keebo. He’s only a robot after all.”

            “Oma-kun!” Akamatsu scolded.

            Iruma rounded on him. “Shut your fucking mouth, you little abortion!” she snarled. “Don’t you have any respect for the dead!? Keebo’s just been murdered!”

            “True, but’s it’s not like we have to worry about it,” Amami said, his hand still clenched around the arm of the traitorous snake Shirogane. “With the First Blood Perk, the murderer will be freed while the rest of us stay here.” Amami looked irritated, Kokichi noticed. He was probably upset considering how they planned their whole fiasco around the idea that no one would get murdered. Or was his problem with the murderer escaping? Kokichi hated the idea himself—murder should be a last resort, but that kind of mentality wouldn’t be supported here—but he’d rather have the murderer escape than have them face whatever “punishment” Monokuma came up with.

            “ _Rise and Shine, Ursine!_ ” Kokichi practically groaned as those annoying cubs popped up inside the bathroom. “Yup, yup, that’s right!” The red one announced. Kokichi didn’t care enough to learn their names. “With the First Blood Perk, the murderer will escape without a trial, while the rest of you bastards will continue to be stuck here!”

            “Damn fucking shame too!” The yellow one spoke up. “I can’t believe we’re not having a trial; it’s going to be so fucking boring without an execution!”

            The pink one scoffed. “Well, I think we got lucky! After all, now we don’t have to witness one of those gory executions!”

            “Pupupu…” The familiar, ominous laugh began to fill the air. Kokichi rolled his eyes; just get on with it! “Upupupupupu!” Monokuma fell down from the ceiling, nearly hitting Keebo’s body. “Oh, how horrible! How tragic! How absolutely _despairing_ ~!” The bear continued to laugh. “You morons think there’s not going to be a trial!”

            Wait, what?

            “What the hell are you talking about?” Surprisingly, it was Iruma who shouted first. “You’re the one who made up the stupid fuckin’ First Blood Perk! Are you taking it back now?”

            Kokichi and Akamatsu exchanged a glance. Amami didn’t know—they’d yet to have the time to fully explain the first two Killing Games to him—but Monokuma never broke his own rules unless the Mastermind was directly involved. If he broke one on a whim, could they trust him to uphold the rest?

            “Oh, no, no, no!” Monokuma laughed. “I’m not the one who took it back; you guys were! You guys waited and waited and took so long with using the First Blood Perk that I had to create another one! And one motive can’t be used when another one takes its place!”

            “That is not what you said before,” Tojo said from the doorway.

            Monokuma shrugged his shoulders. “Doesn’t change the fact that the blackened killed in response to the time limit, and not the First Blood Perk. Which means we get to have a class trial!” Monokuma pulled a monopad out of nowhere and offered it to Akamatsu. “This is the Monokuma File! Any information not hidden by the killer is revealed in it, so read it carefully~! After you all have investigated for a certain amount of time, I will summon you all to the trial grounds so we can begin! So everyone, do your best!”

            With that, Monokuma disappeared, taking his kids with him with a cheer of “So long, bear well!”

            Hoshi was the first to speak. “Well, shit.”

            “This is bullshit!” Iruma screamed. “You can’t just take back any rule you want willy-nilly, you stupid ass fucking bear!” She pointed at the ceiling. “Get back here so I can kick your fucking ass!!”

            “So are we going to have to do a trial after all?”

            “You heard what he said!”    

            “But if we get it wrong, we—”

            “Everyone, shut up!!” Momota shouted over the din. Surprisingly, everyone quieted down. “Alright, we get it, no one wants to do this. But if we don’t investigate, we all die!” He paused to let that sink in. “So, let’s all just work together and investigate, alright? Kaede, do you mind reading the Monokuma File?”

            “Ah! Yeah, sure.” Akamatsu read the file aloud, so everyone could hear.

**Monokuma File #1**

**Victim: K1-B0, the Ultimate Robot**

**The time of death was around 9:30pm.**

**The body was found on the first floor of the school, in the boy’s bathroom.**

**Cause of death was a knife to the victim’s back, severing what counts as a spinal cord.**

**In addition, there are signs of internal hemorrhaging.**

            Akamatsu’s voice trailed off. “Is that it?” Harukawa asked.

            “That’s all that’s on here…”

            Harukawa scoffed. “Seriously? I’ve read autopsy reports more detailed than that.”

            Why would a child caretaker need to have read autopsy reports? Before Kokichi could ask, Saihara spoke up. “Well, Monokuma did say that it included everything the culprit didn’t bother to hide. If they were banking on there not being a trial, they probably didn’t think to hide much.”

            “Still, it isn’t a lot of information to go on,” Tojo said, taking the Monokuma File from Akamatsu to inspect it herself. “What do we do now? Should we… inspect the body?”

            “Guards!” Akamatsu suddenly spoke up. “We should have two guards stand by while we investigate! That way, no one will be able to mess with the crime scene.”

            Saihara nodded. “And as long as there’s two, if one guard is the murderer, the other won’t let them change anything. Good think, Akamatsu-san.” The praise caused Akamatsu to blush and Kokichi to roll his eyes.

            “Ah, but is that really necessary?” Yonaga asked, her white locks swaying back and forth with her body. “After all, why would anyone want to destroy evidence here? We’re all friends, aren’t we, Kaede?”

            Oh, was Yonaga challenging Akamatsu? How interesting… Kokichi waited to see how this would play out.

            Instead of sputtering and stuttering like he expected of her, Akamatsu straightened her back to look at Yonaga. “Yonaga-san, one of our friends is dead. And as much as I hate it, another one of our friends killed them, and will be dead themselves before the night ends. That’s the best-case scenario. The worse is that we all die because they successfully hid evidence and escaped.” She paused to let her words sink in. The others were completely quiet, all of their attention on her. Truly, Akamatsu’s oration skills were to be feared. “I don’t want anyone to die tonight. I don’t want to lose any more friends. But what I want doesn’t matter right now, because we’re trapped in a Killing Game and we have to play by the rules or we die. I’m going to investigate to make sure we don’t lose anyone else tonight, Yonaga-san, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t try to stop me.”

            So, the old trolley problem. Akamatsu was arguing that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, even though she doesn’t want anyone else to die, not even the blackened in this case. How… interesting. But she still has to see the problem with this philosophy, right? That they’d still have to murder someone by voting for them?

            She did realize it, Kokichi realized. She knew what they were doing and he could see it weigh on her soul. But what else could they do? They didn’t have enough time to plan for this possibility. And they never would; Monokuma would keep upping the motives, stressing them out more and more, giving them less time to think, making them reactionary. But if they didn’t have to focus on the murders…

            Anyway, Yonaga seemed properly silenced, at least for now. Kokichi was sure she’d challenge Akamatsu again when their lives weren’t on the line, but for now she’d play along. The rest of the group was energized by Akamatsu’s little speech, each one trying to psych themselves up.

            “Truly, a beautiful demonstration of humanity…”

            “Hey, Akamatsu-san! Tenko volunteers to be one of the guards! I’ll Aikido-throw any male that tries to get past my defense!”

            “Gonta will volunteer as well! He’s not very smart, and probably wouldn’t be very useful in an investigation, but he can guard with Chabashira-san!”

            As the other’s began chatting away excitedly, Kokichi spoke up. “That’s all well and good, but shouldn’t we also place a guard on Shirogane?”

            “Shirogane-san…?” Everyone finally noticed Amami and Shirogane standing off to the side, Amami’s hand still tight around her arm. “Why would we need to guard her?”

            “Because she tried to kill me,” Amami answered.

            “Aaaannnnd, she’s a spy for the bastard who started this Killing Game!” Kokichi exclaimed happily.

            There were a few shouts of denial, a few _he’s lying again_ yelled his way; all in all, what he expected. Though he didn’t think Akamatsu would come to his defense. “For once, Oma-kun is telling the truth. Shirogane tried to kill Amami-kun in the library and when we caught her, she confessed to working with the Mastermind. However, we can’t discuss it now—we’re on a time limit. We’ll do it later. Oh! That reminds me, Tojo-san, can you look at Amami-kun’s arm please? Shirogane hit it when she attacked him.”

            “Of course. Please come with me, Amami-san. There is a first aid kit in the school store.” The maid pulled Amami out of the room, leaving Shirogane alone near the sinks.

“Hey, Momota!” Kokichi shouted at him. “You’re not doing anything useful, watch the crazy bitch!”

            “What!? I don’t want to—”

            “Come on, it’s not like you’re smart enough to solve the crime anyway—”

            “Both of you shut up.” Harukawa said, silencing them both. “If it matters so much, I’ll keep an eye on her.”

            “No, take her away.” Kokichi made a shooing motion with hands. “Faaaarrrr away from the crime scene. Actually, just take her to the game room; it probably doesn’t have anything to do with this case and it’s hard to escape from if you stand in front of the door. Go on now.”

            Harukawa looked like she was going to kill him when Shirogane spoke for the first time since they found the body. “I-I don’t suppose… I have any say in this?”

            “Nope. Murderers don’t get opinions and we have four witnesses that say you aren’t even sorry. Get out.” The two left and Kokichi sighed in relief. Finally. He didn’t know what it was about Harukawa that made him nervous, but it was enough to make him want to keep an eye on her. At least she seemed as disgusted with Shirogane as he was. Maybe she’d interrogate her while they were away. “Alrighty then! Crime solving time! I want to work with Akamatsu-chan and Saihara-chan~!”

            “Definitely not,” Saihara said.

            “After what you pulled?” Momota scoffed. “I don’t think so. I’ll be keeping an eye on you while they investigate the body.” He was overly proud of himself. “Ha! How’s that for being useful!?”

            The others who weren’t in the library looked confused, but didn’t ask about it. Good. It would give him enough time to talk to the others and make sure they didn’t spill the beans about Akamatsu’s murder attempt. The last thing they needed was for the sheep to doubt their de facto leader. “Fine, fine. I’ll go… unclog the toilets or something. At least our evidence will stop flouting away.”

            Turning on his heel, Kokichi left the body to Saihara and Akamatsu, who were trying to convince Iruma to do a robot-autopsy or something. It was darker back near the toilets. Looking up, Kokichi saw that one of the lights had shorted out and that it’s plexiglass cover wasn’t completely on. How odd. He made a note of that.

            He walked up to one of the overflowing toilets and, rolling up his sleeves, plunged his hand down into the pipe. Momota gagged behind him. “Dude! What the fuck, that’s—”

            “Shit?” Kokichi scoffed, smirking as he felt cloth against his fingertips. He grabbed it and pulled, dislodging the rag and holding it out at Momota. “It’s impossible for all the toilets to get clogged naturally all at the same time. It’s ploy by the blackened.” The rag was just a common cleaning rag, easy to get from the kitchen. Damn, he was hoping for a better clue.

            Kokichi left and went to the next stall. “Yeah, but what were they trying to do? The overflowing toilets are what summoned us here.” It was the same result with the other toilet, the same type of rag. Kokichi went to the last one which was right next to the broken light.

            “To do something else, moron.” This toilet had its lid closed and wasn’t overflowing. Why was this one different? Inspecting close, he noticed a dark scuff mark on top of the lid. Rubbing a bit onto his fingers, he smelled it. This was… shoe polish? There was even some on the side of the stall, around the same height as the toilet seat. What did this mean?

            “Oma-kun?” Akamatsu stood behind him, a small notebook in her hands. It was dark blue. Saihara’s? “Saihara-kun asked me to collect alibis and I figured you would have the best guess for everyone in the basement level. So could you tell me where everyone was around the time of the murder?”

            He let his smile stretch across his face. “Of course, Akamatsu-chan! Let me think…” Kokichi cupped his chin in mock-thought. He already knew where everyone had been. He even gave her a sheet of paper with everyone’s info on it. Was she using this for a chance to speak to him? “Inside the Game Room was Gokuhara, Yumeno, Harukawa, Hoshi, and Chabashira. In the library, there was you, me, Momota, Saihara, Amami, and Shirogane. None of us left, so all you have to do is confirm with someone in the Game Room to make sure none of them did.”

            Akamatsu nodded. “And if they didn’t, that means the killer is one of the four that were upstairs.” Iruma, Shinguji, Tojo, or Yonaga. “Shinguji-kun told me about what happened while we were all downstairs. Apparently everyone except for Yonaga-san were in the dining room for dinner when Shirogane went to the bathroom. She never came back, so they all went out to look for her. Iruma-san went outside, Shinguji-kun searched the gym area, Tojo-san searched around the kitchen, and Keebo had the upstairs. Tojo-san confirmed his story.”

            Kokichi’s eyes widened. So that’s how it happened… What a clever killer, to think this up so fast. “It’s rather concerning that Shirogane disappeared from this floor only to end up in the library. There might be another secret passage besides the one in the library.”

            Akamatsu nodded. “I thought the same thing. Still we… can’t worry about that now. Not with a murder trial coming up.”

            “Speaking of the murder, I noticed that the knife in his back seemed to have come from the kitchen.” Might as well throw her a bone. After all, he already knew who the blackened was. And there might even be some evidence in there to solidify his theory. “You or Saihara should probably check it out.”

            “But… what will you do?”

            “I’ll go get the cameras from the library. Who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky and find some valuable evidence.” Kokichi doubted it. At best, they’ll have visual proof that Shirogane came out of the hidden door and attacked Amami. Still, he’d rather have it than not.

            “Alright. Thank you, Oma-kun.”

            Kokichi watched her leave. She looked pale. Really pale. Was the impending knowledge of what the night would end with getting to her? He got up and, leaving Momota behind, went to get the cameras like he said. She of all people should know what was going to happen next.

            When Kokichi first arrived and noticed no one talking about how similar this Killing Game was to the ones perpetuated by Junko Enoshima, he knew something was up. None of the history books in the library mentioned it and as of yet, only Akamatsu seemed to remember it at all, though Shirogane might, what with her whole despair-gasm she had earlier. Still, he couldn’t tell if these people were just idiots or if memories of the Tragedy had been removed. But then, why did he and Akamatsu still remember?

            Turning off the cameras and hiding them in his clothes, Kokichi looked up as the TV monitor went off. Monokuma appeared on the screen. “…Ehm, ehm! I’m getting bored, so let’s begin the class trial! Everyone meet up at the Shrine of Judgement so we can start! Oh, what thrills, chills, and kills await us~!”

            Damn. He thought they’d have more time. Saihara must have found the rest of the clues. Leaving the library, Kokichi followed the others out of the school and into the dome outside that was the Shrine of Judgement. Everyone looked suitably nervous—even Amami, who never seemed to lose his cool, had a bead of sweat dripping down his face. Although, that could have been because his shoulder hurt—Amami was hard to read. Kokichi would even say he was hardest to read, except for the fact that he didn’t even see Shirogane’s betrayal coming. Was she a better liar than even him?

            No, he didn’t think it was that. Kokichi glanced at her as Harukawa brought her into the building. It was more like… she was acting. And that despair-addicted person was her real self. Now that he knew what to look for, Kokichi could see that she was barely holding herself together. But why did she even bother to reconstruct her old persona? Was she hoping to gain sympathy from the others, to discredit them? He’d have to plan something for after the trial—

            The elevator doors opened and they were all ushered into the confined space by the Monokubs. Kokichi ended up next to Akamatsu, with Gokuhara’s giant body blocking them from Saihara’s overprotective sight.

            She was shaking. She tried her best to hide it, but Akamatsu was panicking inside. Without thinking, Kokichi reached out and grabbed her hand. It was cold and clammy, but Kokichi didn’t let go and squeezed.

            She squeezed back and they descended into the darkness.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Notes:  
> *Kept calling Oma-kun Oma-kin and honestly? Kinda freaked myself out  
> *Also, I’ve been trying to keep all of the character’s voice quirks the same, but not every wiki entry mentions it and I played the English version, so I made a few assumptions.  
> *Himiko has yet to say a single line in this fanfiction. I’m ashamed.  
> A/N: God, writing Kokichi’s point of view is a challenge all on its own. Sorry this took so long to get out. Sorry about any spelling mistakes


	7. In Which Rantaro has No Idea What's Going On

            Rantaro finished scanning the “Truth Bullet” section on his Monopad while also trying to comfort a distraught Iruma. He hid his anxiety and pain behind a mask. Spending most of the investigation period having his wound tended hadn’t left him with any time to investigate for himself. It would have been too difficult anyway; his shoulder and clavicle were bandaged so tight, he could barely move his arm. Shirogane hadn’t broken the bone, but it had been a near thing. Though, even with the Ultimate Maid patching him up, he was still clueless about the murder. He’d hoped to catch Akamatsu or Oma on the ride down, but Gokuhara had boxed them into the corner and left him standing next to Iruma, who sobbed too much to be interrogated.

            The elevator doors slid open to reveal the trial room. The walls and ceiling were covered with glass that reflected light around the room, giving it a church-like appearance. Sixteen podiums sat in a circle in front of Monokuma’s throne and behind that was a pink stained-glass window bordered by white curtains.

            Monokuma was ecstatic to see them. “Welcome everyone to the Class Trial! Find your seats so that we can begin!”

            Their names were engraved onto the podiums, so Rantaro circled around, looking for his. He found his place at the front of the room in front of Monokuma, situated between Gokuhara… and Shirogane. He squinted at her. She’d reverted back into her shy persona; there was no sign of the madwoman who’d tried to kill him earlier.

            Would she try to convince the others he was lying? Perhaps, but it wasn’t likely to work. With witnesses like Momota and Saihara, no one would believe her. But what if she revealed that Akamatsu had planned a “murder”? The rest would distrust her because of it, and he couldn’t reveal that it was fake; that would show their hand to Monokuma and the Mastermind and plant an even bigger target on their backs.

            He’d had to keep Shirogane from mentioning it. Hopefully Oma had a better idea.

            Across the circle from him was a portrait of Keebo, the photo covered in red gears. Rantaro failed to catch the Mastermind. Perhaps if Shirogane had been the Mastermind rather than a spy, Keebo would still be alive. The very thought of his own failure made Rantaro burn with anger. He promised himself that he’d avenge Keebo’s murder, if it was the last thing he did.

            As everyone found their seats, Monokuma spoke again. “Let’s begin with a basic explanation of the class trial! So your votes will determine the results. If you can figure out “whodunit” then only they will receive punishment. But if you pick the wrong one, then I’ll punish everyone besides the blackened and the one that deceived everyone else will graduate—”

            “Alright, so—” Momota started to speak, cutting off Monokuma, but the bear struck back.

            “Hey! What do you think you’re doing, interrupting your headmaster so rudely!” The bear ranted and raved from his throne, shaking his little fist. “Why, I have half a mind to punish you right from the get go!”

            “Yeah!”

            “You tell him, father!”

            They all waited a few seconds for Monokuma to continue. He didn’t. “Well?” Rantaro finally asked.

            “Well, what?”

            “What else did you need to tell us?”

            “Oh, no, I was done. I just hate it when you kids interrupt me!”

            Great. This Class Trial was already off to a fantastic start.

            Saihara sighed, fiddling with the brim of his hat. “Alright then, the first thing we should do it establish out alibis—”

            “I think we should talk about the murder weapon!” Oma said, grinning casually with his hands behind his head. “It’s only natural, of course, to figure out how our dear friend Keebo died, right?”

            “But I really think that the alibis—”

            “That’s a lie, and you know it!” Yumeno cut Saihara off. “You never considered Keebo your friend; you always bullied him!”

            “He does have a point though,” Rantaro spoke up. He’d side with Oma for now, especially since Rantaro hadn’t gotten the chance to inspect the crime scene himself. This would be the perfect chance to learn the other’s opinions of the crime. “I didn’t get a chance to look at the crime scene for very long, but… there was something really weird about it, looking back on it.”

            “Weird?” Momota asked. “What’s so weird about it? He was stabbed in the back.”

            Saihara had given up any and all attempts to bring the conversation back to alibis. “To be precise, it was one of the kitchen knives. Akamatsu-san and I inspected the kitchen after we finished up in the bathroom and there we found the knife missing.”

“Amami-san…” Rantaro looked past Gokuhara to Akamatsu. “The weird thing you noticed… is it the other wounds on Keebo’s body? The hemorrhaging?” The rest of the class seemed to murmur to each other.

            “Not really, though those are probably also important. No, I’m talking about how other than those hemorrhaging and the cause of death, there were no other wounds.” He was met with blank stares all around. “There were no defense wounds. No hesitation marks. No signs of an attack. Most of Keebo’s body consisted of hard metal, yet the blackened was able to find a weak spot that killed him immediately. Humans are hardy; it takes a lot to kill them and they fight back the entire time. For a robot, who’s physical capacities can go far beyond that of a human, it would be even harder.”

            He of all people would know how hard it was to kill a human. Rantaro blinked at the sudden thought. To kill another human? But he’d never killed a person before…?

            “I gotta agree with Amami,” Hoshi said, messing with his candy cigarette. “To kill someone, you either need to have a lot of force behind you or intimate knowledge of the human body.”

            “But Keebo-san was a robot… who’d know how to kill a robot?” Shirogane asked, earning glares from the five people who witnessed her break down.  

            “…Anyway, the missing knife wasn’t the only thing we found in the kitchen. While looking around, Saihara-san found a jumper cable abandoned in the trash can.”

            “T-That’s right… it was wet on one and covered by a bunch of dishrags.”

            “They were probably the same kind of rags stuffed into the toilets to make them overflow.” Rantaro pulled the evidence up on his monopad. “However, where did the jumper cable even come from? I don’t remember seeing one during our original investigation of the school.”

            “I believe I did,” Tojo said. “There was only one, however, in the warehouse, so the one you found must have been the one from there.”

            “So?” Iruma shouted. “The fuck does a cable have to do with Keebo’s murder? He was _stabbed_ , dick-for-brains.”

            “I hate to say it, but Mui’s got a point.” Momota said, ignoring Iruma’s offended yell. “What does it have to do with the murder?”

            “Nothing! Nothing at all—”

            “No, that’s wrong!” Rantaro’s voice rang out across the room, stopping Iruma in her tracks. “It is important—”

            “Bull-fucking-shit!” Iruma cut him off, face contorted in rage, nostrils flaring and sneer in place. “That jumper cable has nothing to do with the murder, and I’ll fucking prove it too!

            “What does the jumper cable have to do with Keebo’s murder? Fucking. Nothing. In case you forgot, dumbass, Keebo was _stabbed_. The only way it could have been used in his murder were if he were strangled, and you can’t strangle a robot. Just because something’s wet doesn’t mean it’s important!”

            Rantaro glared. He’ll cut through her words! “Iruma-san, please open up the Monokuma File,” he told her. “In the last line, the File mentions ‘internal hemorrhaging.’ There’s no sign of how those injuries were caused at the crime scene. And while the intricacies of robot physiology escape me, for humans, similar wounds can be caused by _electrocution_.”

            It was like a bomb went off in the court room, everyone talking at once to make their opinion heard. “Everyone!” Akamatsu tried to call them to attention, but no one could hear her over the rabble. “Everyone, please—”

            An ear-shattering shriek pierced through the noise, drawing everyone’s attention to Oma. He silenced himself with a cough. “Akamatsu-chan wanted to say something.” He told the class cheerfully, smiling like he hadn’t just shrieked like an unholy demon.

            “Uh, yeah… Thank you, Oma-kun… Now, Amami-kun, do you have any evidence to back up your claim?”

            Rantaro nodded. “I do. Inside the boy’s bathroom, a light had shorted out. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t be enough to make me suspicious, but this light was added to the evidence section of the Monopad and was found in front of the only toilet not overflowing in the bathroom.”

            “Yeah, Kokichi and I checked all the toilets,” Momota added, “and all of them had rags shoved in them except the last.”

            Oma pointed at Momota like a child tattling. “He’s lying!! He didn’t check any of the toilets, I did it all myself!”         

            Everyone chose to ignore him. “While I do admit the probability of Keebo being electrocuted is high, I do not understand how that is relevant to finding his killer,” Shinguji said.

            “Well,” Saihara started, “since the cause of death was definitely the stab wound, it’s possible that electricity was used to incapacitate Keebo.”

            “That makes sense,” Rantaro conceded. “There weren’t any signs of a struggle; no defense wounds or even any sign that he was conscious during the attack. And it would explain why the killer clogged the toilets; they’d need to in order to electrocute him from a distance. So, now that we’ve got that covered—”

            “But, um…” Shirogane bit her lip in false innocence. “Are we even sure that electrocuting Keebo would stop him? He is a robot after all…”

            “Well, you could always try it yourself and drop a toaster in the bath, you nasty traitorous cow.”

            “Oma-kun!”

            “Come ooooonnnnnn, Akamatsu-chan!” he whined. “You can’t expect me to actually try and get along with that stupid spy, can you? She tried to kill my precious Amami-chan, she tried to frame you for the murder, and she admitted to working for the Mastermind!” Rantaro saw how Oma’s words affected the others. Some, like Chabashira, seemed to be caught in denial, some seemed pissed that one of them would work for the Mastermind, and Gokuhara just seemed confused, but that was typical of him.

            “You’re right, but you can’t just tell someone to kill themselves!”

            “Why not?” Harukawa spoke. Shocked eyes turned to her and she scoffed. “Don’t look at me like that. While I was guarding her, Shirogane had some sort of fit and basically confessed to spying on the rest of us. So what if she kills herself? It would spare us the trouble of having to keep her away from everyone else.”

            “Harukawa-san, she confessed to you? Did she say anything else; anything about the Mastermind, maybe?”

            “No,” was the resolute answer. “She brought up something… personal, and I ended up kicking her to shut her up. She didn’t mention the Mastermind at all.”

            “Something… personal?” Shirogane’s voice had taken on the same sickly-sweet tone from before, when she’d practically broken down over her failure to kill him. “Oh! Was it mentioning you little friend—”

            “ _Don’t._ ”

            “What was her name again?”

_“I’m warning you.”_

            “Oh, yeah! Fumiko—”

            “ ** _Do you want to die!?”_** Harukawa snarled, her eyes practically glowing with rage.

            “Hey, knock it off you two!” Momota slammed his fist onto the podium. “We don’t have time to talk about shit that doesn’t have to do with the murder, alright!? It’s time to focus on who killed Keebo, so stop paying attention to that crazy bitch and help solve the murder!”

            “But what if Shittygane was the one who killed Keebo, huh!?” Iruma shouted back at him. “You guys already said she tried to kill creeper over there; she could have tried to kill Keebo as a backup plan!”

            “You’ve got that wrong!” Akamatsu interrupted. “If we’d talked about alibis from the beginning like Saihara-kun had wanted to, you’d already know that it would be impossible, Iruma-san.” 

            “A-Alibis!?”

            She nodded. “Yes. During the investigation, I took the time to gather notes on where everyone was at the time of the murder. At 9:30, Shirogane was in the library with Oma-kun, Amami-kun, Saihara-kun, Momota-kun, and myself. At the same time, there was a meeting in the Game Room consisting of Hoshi-kun, Chibashira-san, Yumeno-san, Harukawa-san, and Gokuhara-kun.”

            “That’s correct,” Hoshi agreed. “After Momota, no one left the room until the body discovery alarm went off.”

            “So, that leaves Tojo-san, Iruma-san, Shinguju-kun, and Yonaga-san all without alibis, correct?” Rantaro asked.

            Saihara nodded, fiddling with the brim of his hat. “That’s right. Of the four, the first three were looking for Shirogane-san with Keebo, since she disappeared during dinner, and Yonaga-san was missing throughout the entire evening.

            “Which means that the killer has to be one of those four.”

**Class Trial Intermission!!**


	8. In Which Kaede Solves a Murder, Unfortunately

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The class trial for the murder of the Ultimate Robot continues!

**Class Trial Intermission End!!**

            Kaede’s eyes drifted across the faces of the four remaining suspects. Angie Yonaga. Kirumi Tojo. Miu Iruma. Korekiyo Shinguji. One of her classmates—her friends—had killed Keebo-kun. She bit her lip. Even if he’d potentially been a mole, he hadn’t deserved to be so callously stabbed in the back. He’d just wanted to be treated like a human.

            She squared her shoulders. Now wasn’t the time to falter; she had to protect everyone she could!

            Of the four, only Iruma was visibly distressed by the accusation. Tojo’s face stayed calm, Shinguji cocked an eyebrow, and Yonaga kept up her unreadable smile. Iruma slammed her fist down. “Watch who you’re accusing, Suck-hara! In case you fuckers forgot, Keebs was closest to me rather than anyone else in this goddamn hellhole. Why would I kill him!?”

            “It could have been a ploy,” Harukawa suggested, "luring him in and making it easier to kill him.”

            “You want to say that to my face, diaper-fetishist!?”

            “ ** _What_** did you just call me—?”

            “Guys!” Kaede shouted over them. “Now isn’t the time to start randomly accusing each other!”

            “Kaede’s right, you two,” Momota backed her up and she nodded her thanks. “In order to get to the bottom of this, we have to debate without attacking each other.”

            “Yep! Plus that filthy cumdumpster has attacked everyone so much, it got super boring.”

            “Kokichi, I swear to God, I’m going to punch you in the face if you don’t shut up.”

            Oma promptly burst in tears. “Wah! Momota-chan is bullying me! Akamatsu-chan, save me!”

            “Don’t you even _talk_ to her after what you did, you little shit!”

            “Do not bully Oma-kun! It is not gentlemanly!”       

            A migraine formed in the center of Kaede’s head. Was this what it’s like to raise kindergarteners? Suddenly, Harukawa’s attitude was much more relatable.

            “Anyway!” Saihara interrupted. Kaede shot him a grateful look. “Akamatsu-san, you were the one who acquired the locations of everyone, right?”

            She jumped on the chance to get back on track. “Yes! Shirogane-san went missing during dinner, so Tojo, Keebo, Iruma, and Shinguji split up to look for her. Keebo searched the upstairs, Shinguji searched around the Gym, Tojo searched the bottom floor, and Iruma searched outside. Yonaga-san, since no one knows where you were during dinner, could you please tell us?”

            “Ah, of course, of course!” Yonaga clapped cheerfully. “I was giving one final prayer to Atua in the Shrine of Judgement! It has such a church-like aura, I couldn’t think of any other place to go!” She looked around, a finger tapping against her mouth. “Though, now that I’ve gotten a better look around, I do believe that the trial room far surpasses the Shrine. Well done, Monokuma~!”

            “Aw, why thank you!”

            “We’re the ones who did all the work…” Monotaro complained.

            “Anywho~, I believe I offered several people the opportunity to join me in prayer, but no one did, so it appears I have no alibi.” She pouted, only to cheer up near immediately. “How fortunate that that last prayer is no longer necessary!”

            “…Keebo _died_ , Angie,” Kaito deadpanned.

            “True, true! But it’s no real loss. After all, he was only a robot. A fake. And isn’t it better that a fake human die instead of 15 living, beautiful souls?”

            Iruma lost her shit for the umpteenth time that trial. Kaede’s ears were starting to ring. “Only a robot!? You heartless, cultish bitch!! Keebo was my friend, how could you say that!?”

            “ ** _Watch what you say._** ” Yonaga whispered, her voice uncharacteristically harsh. Kaede shuttered. “Or else I cannot control the wrath God has planned for you.”

            “All right, all right!” Kaito shouted over the two, rubbing the back of his head. “Geeze, we get it! Let’s just focus on this, okay?” Without waiting for a response, he continued. “So, Shuichi, our four main suspects are Kirumi, Kiyo, Miu, and Angie, right?”

            “That’s correct. But I…” Saihara looked away. “There’s no way to make a definite conclusion with all that we know right now.”

            “But isn’t the most logical conclusion that it was Tojo-san?” Amami asked. “She was the one checking the downstairs—she would have had ample time to set everything up.”

            “Not necessarily. If the murderer had grabbed everything beforehand, like the knife and jumper cable, then the set up and murder wouldn’t have taken very long. It would just be a matter of avoiding Tojo-san.”

            Tojo cleared her throat. “I must confess that, after I checked the downstairs for Shirogane-san, I returned to the kitchen to clean up the dishes, and then went outside to sweep the patio. At the time, I felt that I mustn’t let my diligence slip even in the situation we were in, but now I see that it was that diligence the blackened took advantage of.” She bowed. “I deeply apologize.”

            Kaede narrowed her eyes. Tojo’s story was hard to believe—it was true that she took her job as a maid very seriously, but could she trust her word? Or was it a lie? “There’s no reason not to trust you for now,” Kaede told the maid. “After all, it’s not like we can contradict your testimony without evidence. So I guess that means that we need to go through each piece we have until the blackened messes up!”

            “That’s the spirit!” Kaito pumped his fist.

            “Um… Gonta has a question…” The gentle giant beside Kaede spoke up. “Gonta… is having a hard time understanding but… Keebo-san was upstairs looking for Shirogane-san, right? Then how did Keebo-san get down to men’s bathroom?”

            “I don’t know, man, maybe he had to take a piss?”

            “Robots don’t pee, moron!”

            “That’s even if Keebo was a boy robot!” Oma butted it. “Kaito, did you just assume Keebo’s gender? How robophobic!”

            “The water!” Kaede exclaimed before Momota could threaten Oma again. “Keebo was right above the bathrooms, and the stairs leading up are right next door. Keebo would have most likely heard the water running and gone to investigate.”

            Saihara nodded. “We assumed that the water was only there to serve as a conductor of electricity, but it could have also been used to lure Keebo downstairs. It’s unlikely that Tojo-san would have heard it either, since the kitchen is farther away from the bathroom than the stairs and, from what I can tell, the rooms here are mostly soundproof.”

            “All on purpose, of course!” Monokuma piped up. “Can’t have your murder plot going sour too quickly if your victim decides to scream their lungs out!”

            “Neehhh, but that doesn’t really help us much, does it?” Yumeno whined. “We still can’t know which of the four killed Keebo.”

            Oma clicked his tongue. “You mean two. Which of the two killed Keebo. Angie and Kiyo can’t be the killer.”

            “Oh yeah!? You got any proof of it, you little shitstain?”

            “Yep! While I was unclogging the toilets, which was super gross, I found the one toilet that wasn’t clogged: the one the killer stood on. And on it was a black stain: shoe polish. There was even some on the stall next to it. So correct me if I’m wrong, but Kiyo’s boots are all scuffy and dark brown, while Angie wears white flip-flops everywhere. Neither one is capable of leaving black shoe polish, therefore… not the killer.” He looked around excitedly. “Did I do it? Do I get a prize?”

            Kaede ignored him. “Oma-kun makes a good point. I guess that leaves Tojo-san and Iruma-san.”

            “Wait, you mean you’re actually going to believe him!? That asswipe lies all the time!”

            “He’s not lying about this,” Kaito said. “I was there when he found it.”

            “Well, how do we decide? We don’t have a lot of evidence left…”

            “It’s got to be maid fetish then! He was my best friend, I certainly didn’t kill him!”

            “If you could provide actual proof to back your claims—”

            Kaede rubbed her temples, having a hard time tuning everyone out. She had to think! What would her Papa say, how would he get to the bottom of the murder? There had to be something, anything! A piece of evidence they overlooked, a testimony that doesn’t sound right, the events of the murder itself! Think, think, think—

            “Look, just because you got off the hook because of some stupid ass shoe polish doesn’t mean—”

            “ _You’ve got that wrong!_ ” Kaede shouted. “It isn’t just ‘stupid ass shoe polish.’ It’s the key to exposing the killer! Oma-kun, you mentioned that there was some polish on the stall, right?”

            “Uh, yeah? I just said that, Akamatsu-chan, keep up.”

            “But it would be hard for that to get there just from standing on a seat. Unless, of course, they fell.” Kaede allowed her words to sink in. “What most likely happened is, while they were retrieving the jumper cable from the light, they reached too far and slipped, kicking the stall and falling in the water. And while it’s been a long time since the murder, it takes forever for clothes to air-dry.”

            “But, couldn’t the killer have just changed clothes?”

            Hoshi scoffed. “Not likely. The body was found, what, 5 minutes after time of death? After getting rid of the jumper cable and running back to their dorm, they would have barely enough time to towel dry before they were required back on the scene.”

            “So, what, we’re supposed to let you molest us to see if we haven’t gotten all wet?” Iruma sneered at them, barring her teeth at Saihara, who she was closest too and who would have to check to see if she was dry. “Don’t you lay a finger on me, Suck-hara, or you’ll end up losing it!”

            “If you want to be proven innocent? Then yes.” Kaede snapped. “Tojo-san, do you have any objections?”

            “If it proves my innocence, then I do not.” She answered, then turned to Hoshi. “Hoshi-kun, do you mind being the one to check? I trust that your hands will not linger in any… improper places.”

            “You don’t have to worry about that,” he agreed and reached out to touch the skirt of her dress. His hands stroked the fabric, swiftly feeling it from the top of the waist to the laced edges. “She’s dry. Fabric’s heavy too; it would soak up water and take forever to dry.”

            “So that means…” Everyone looked at the culprit, who was sweating badly. “Iruma-san…”

            “The fuck you fuckers looking at!? You think that just because I won’t let myself get felt up that I’m a goddamn killer!?  You’re all out of your FUCKING MINDS!”

            “But all the evidence…” Saihara started.

            “Evidence-smevidence! You’ve all forgotten one important thing, cocksuckers!” There were tears in her eyes. “Motive! Fucking motive! Why the FUCK would I kill Keebo!? He was—He was… my friend…” Tears and snot dripped down her face as Iruma sobbed for the first time since Keebo died. Breath shuddered in and out of her like wind rattling around an abandoned house.

            “Because he wasn’t your target.”

            Iruma looked up. “Huh?”

            Rantaro’s face was impassive. “You probably wanted to kill Tojo-san, or even Shirogane-san, since the murder took place on the first floor. But you obviously didn’t know about the soundproofing and Shirogane-san wasn’t actually in the girl’s bathroom, since you were relying on the fact that someone would follow the sound of running water in a place that shouldn’t have it. And someone did—just not the person you were expecting.”

            The room was silent except for Iruma’s tears. She had stopped trying to defend herself; she just gripped the podium tight and sobbed. Kaito spoke up. “Maybe we should go over the case one last time… you know, just in case.”

            Saihara nodded. “Okay. I’ll do it.” He took a deep breath.

            “Around 9:10 pm tonight, five people were eating in the dining hall: Tojo-san, Shinguji-san, Shirogane-san, Keebo, and the blackened, everyone nervously awaiting the 10:00pm bell, unknowing that one among them had already had a plan to take advantage of the First Blood Perk. They stole a knife and some dishrags from the kitchen and waited for an opportunity. It came when Shirogane-san left to go to the bathroom and never returned, prompting a search party for her. They didn’t know she was already in the basement with us. Each of the remaining four searched different areas: Shinguji-san searched the Gym, Tojo-san searched the first floor, Keebo searched the second floor, and the culprit searched outside.

            “But instead of searching for a missing friend, the culprit began their murder plot. Waiting until Tojo-san returned to the kitchen, the culprit grabbed a jumper cable from the warehouse, raced to the boy’s bathroom, and stuffed all but one toilet with rags. They then flushed them, causing the toilets to overflow. Getting on the last toilet, they attached the cable to light above and waited. Soon, they heard footsteps enter the bathroom and they dropped the other end of the cable into the water, electrocuting their victim.

            “When enough time had passed, the culprit fished the cable out of the water. But while they were detaching it from the light, they slipped, kicking the side of the stall and falling into the water. But since the electric current was broken, they were unharmed. Exiting the stall, they were shocked to see not their intended victim, Tojo-san, but their friend, Keebo. Still they couldn’t let the First Blood Perk pass them by, so they stabbed their friend in the back, killing Keebo.

            “After that, they didn’t have much time. They quickly threw the jumper cable away in the kitchen trash to try to implicate Tojo-san and ran back to their dorm room to change out of their wet uniform. But just as they got back, the body announcement rang, meaning they barely had enough time to towel off before they had to run back to the scene of their murder.”

            Everyone was quiet after Saihara’s explanation of events, but of course, that couldn’t last. “Well, I think that sums up everything quite nicely.” Monokuma announced, an enormous TV screen lowering behind him. “Guess that means it’s time for everyone to vote! Remember, not voting is NOT an option, unless you want your lives to end at the hands of my adorable wittle cubs!”

            The screen in front of Kaede lit up with portrait pictures of everyone else in the killing game. If she did this, she would be, in part, responsible for Iruma’s death. But she couldn’t just _not_ vote! She had to live through this, to see her family again, to get everyone else out safe! But Iruma’s shuttering sobs echoed in her ears.

            This… this wasn’t Iruma’s fault! Kaede was certain that the other girl would never have taken a life if they hadn’t been forced into this situation. She couldn’t blame her for that, for panicking when it seemed like there was only an hour left to live. Hell, Kaede could have done something similar! So she couldn’t just vote for Iruma. But she had to vote even if she didn’t want to. Biting her lip, Kaede’s finger hovered over the screen…

            …and pressed her own profile.

            The screen above Monokuma’s throne lit up with a list of all their names. “All votes have been tallied~! And the results are…!” Little dashes of lights lit up next to the names of those voted for. Fourteen votes for Miu Iruma. One vote for Kaede Akamatsu. “The blackened by a mile is… The Ultimate Inventor, Miu Iruma! Congratulations on surviving everyone! Though, it looks like someone was picking on poor Akamatsu-chan…” Monokuma mocked, his grin growing wider. “First she was so cruelly manipulated and discovered that her classmate is a despair-stricken lunatic, now someone wants her dead!? Can’t she just get a break?”

            Momota shouted something back at Monokuma, but Kaede didn’t pay them any attention. As soon as the podiums retracted into the ground, she swept Iruma up in a hug, ignoring the girl’s startled gasp. Tears budded in the corners of Kaede’s eyes. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry this happened. That you were driven to this.”

            Iruma clung to her like a lifeline. “I-I didn’t… I didn’t want to…” she blubbered, body trembling. “B-But then there was only an hour left… And I—And I didn’t want to die! _I don’t want to die!_ And then it turned out to be Keebs, and, and Monokuma lied about the First Blood Perk! And I couldn’t—I had to—”

            Kaede only squeezed her tighter, glaring at Monokuma from over Iruma’s shoulder. She wouldn’t let go. “I’m sorry. I know.” She took a step backwards, dragging Iruma with her, and then another. Maybe if they were fast enough, they could get to the elevator—!

            As if he could read her mind, Monokuma giggled that maniacal ‘upupupupu.’ “Oh, this is such a tenderhearted moment~! But, like all good things, it must sadly come to an end.” The animatronic cleared his voice. “Now then!”

            “No, no, no, no, no—” Iruma muttered into Kaede’s shoulder.

            “—I’ve prepared a very special punishment for the Ultimate Inventor, Miu Iruma!”

            “No, no, no, no, no, no, no—”

            “—Let’s give it everything we’ve got!”

            “No, no, no—”

            “ ** _It’s punishment time~!”_**

_“PLEASE, NO! I DON’T WANT TO DIE!”_

            A metal collar clamped around Iruma’s neck and ripped her from Kaede’s arms. “ ** _No!!!_** ” The scream came unbidden from her lips as Kaede leapt after her, hand outstretched, reaching for someone she could never catch.

Iruma disappeared through the curtains behind Monokuma’s throne. The screen above him flashed the words “Whore House of Horror” in bloody red letters before retracting into the ceiling, the curtains being pulled back at the same time. On the other side was Iruma, trapped in a brothel stage-set with tiny Monokuma’s dressed as prostitutes posing riskily. Iruma had been tied to a St. Andrew’s cross with silver wire, spread-eagled in front of the class as she trembled and jerked in her restraints, red candles dripping hot wax on her from above.

            Watery blue eyes pled to her as Kaede’s fists slammed into the glass. She gritted her teeth. This shouldn’t have happened!! Iruma was her friend, she had helped her and Saihara, and now Kaede couldn’t do anything!? Hands wrapped around her arms and pulled her back into a strong chest, but she struggled—she struggled so that maybe if she got free, she could free Iruma—

            The cross suddenly slammed down, crushing Iruma’s face into the floor, and returned upright to reveal her broken nose and panicked expression. That was the only warning they had before the cross rapidly banged Iruma against the ground, the splats of flesh and crunch of bone clearly audible through the glass. Each return to upright position revealed a new injury until Iruma looked like nothing more than a human-shaped bruise, and with each return, the wires cut into the skin around her wrists, ankles, torso, and neck, slowly drawing blood. She couldn’t even scream until, finally, the wire around her neck split it right open, spraying blood across the glass, and the cross slammed down one last time, crushing the blue Monokub that had been thrown in the way.

            Kaede couldn’t help it. She ripped herself out of the person’s arms and spewed bile onto the floor.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whelp, that was traumatizing. Hopefully, now that school's about to start again, I'll be able to update more regularly. I work best when there is rigid structure in my life.


	9. In Which Kokichi Brings the Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starring:  
> -A zesty avocado  
> -A good purple boi  
> -Protagonist-kun, now with boobs  
> -SHSL Anxiety  
> \---NULL---  
> -Referenced Incest (Thanks, Kiyo)  
> -Gunslinger Girl  
> -Astro Boy  
> -I Can't Wait to Kill You  
> -Atua Save Us  
> -The Sleepy Lesbian  
> -The Violent Lesbian  
> \---NULL---  
> -Not Your Momma  
> -A Good, Pure Boi  
> -Depression

            Kokichi stood off to the side as Amami held Akamatsu’s hair back as she puked her lungs out onto the trial room floor. It was mostly bile, he noticed; she likely hadn’t eaten anything since this morning. The others had managed marginally better than her, some panicking like Chabashira and Gokuhara, others more collected like Shinguji, and Shirogane looked completely blissed out and high on despair, but no one was unaffected.

            Except for him of course. Kokichi’s mask of indifference had held out through far tougher times than this, and it would hold throughout the entire Killing Game.

            ~~Just don’t think about Iruma’s screams, her head, her blood, oh god, her blood was everywhere, don’t think about it, ** _don’t think about it_** —~~

            It was a grim class that returned to the elevator and back up to the Shrine of Judgement. As a silence, collective unit, everyone trudged back towards the dorms. Kokichi managed to catch Amami’s eye and gestured to the field where they met last time; should they meet up again to talk?

            Amami nodded. They would.

            It was only once they were inside the dorm building that someone spoke up. “What are we going to do with Shirogane?” Hoshi asked, crossing his arms. “She did attack Amami; she might try it again.”

            “I mean, I guess we could just tie her up somewhere,” Momota suggested.

            “Geeze, Momota-chan, you’re so _stupid_ ,” Kokichi scoffed, making sure his voice had just the right level of childishness to be annoying. “I mean, I already knew that, but I didn’t think you were so stupid that it could lead to someone’s death! If we tie her up, what’s to stop anyone from murdering her?”

            “No one here would do that!”

            “How could you possibly be so sure?” Shinguji asked. “The next motive could be anything, specifically designed to bring out the worst in people. It could prey on our need to escape, or target someone’s secrets. So while tying her up guarantees the rest of us are safe, it means that Shirogane-san would most certainly perish.”

            “You have to have trust in everyone! Believe me, no one’s going to kill again!”

            “I’m sorry, but it’s quite impossible to believe you,” Tojo spoke up. “Iruma-san is proof enough that Monokuma knows exactly what to do to turn us against each other. Now that the first murder has triggered, the others will no doubt happen at a rapid pace.”

            How exactly did _she_ know that? Before Kokichi could ask, Saihara said, “Amami-kun, why don’t you decide? You were the one she attacked, after all.”

            “I think we should lock her in her room,” Amami decided. “She’s still kept safely away from the others while still allowing for self-defense in case of a murder attempt. The fact that there’s only one key to each room limits the amount of people who can get to her and whoever has the key can take her food so she doesn’t starve.”

            “I…” Shirogane flinched when she noticed everyone looking at her. “I don’t suppose… I have any say in this…?”

            No one answered her.

            Tojo sighed. “In that case, I am willing to take responsibility for Shirogane-san, if that is alright with everyone?”

            No one cared enough to disagree and with that, they locked Shirogane in her room and went to bed. Kokichi put away the cameras from the library and hovered by the door, cracking it to see if the dorm was empty.

            It wasn’t.

            “Akamatsu-san?” It was Saihara. Kokichi pressed his ear against the crack. “Are you… okay?”

            “…No. Not really.” Akamatsu’s voice was soft; he could barely hear it. “I don’t think I can get to sleep yet. I’m going to my lab, practice my scales for a while. At least… until I feel a little better.”

            “Oh. Okay…” Footsteps, and then… “This wasn’t your fault, Akamatsu-san.”

            “Thank you , Saihara-san, but that’s not true. I promised Keebo and Iruma-san that I would get everyone out safe. And I failed. Nothing I do will ever be able to change that.”

            He shouldn’t be listening to this. Kokichi pressed closer.

            “But you couldn’t have known she’d—”

            “It doesn’t matter. I should have been a better leader.” Shuffling. “Goodnight, Saihara-kun.”

            Kokichi waited until he heard the click of a door closing to peek his head out. They were gone. A few moments, Amami exited his room and Kokichi met him at the bottom of the stairs. “Did you hear that?” Amami asked.

            “Hear what?” Kokichi played innocent.

            Amami looked like he was going to call him out on it, but closed his mouth. Good. So long as it didn’t interfere with their escape, Akamatsu could blame herself all she wanted.

            ~~Kokichi did, after all.~~

            Together, they left for the field outside and there, a little further out than the night before, sat Akamatsu, pulling up clumps of grass. Upon spotting them, she furiously rubbed her eyes and gave a weary smile. “Hey guys.” Her voice was just as soft as before. Oh great, she was moping. Fantastic.

            “Heeeeyyyy, Akamatsu-chan~!” Kokichi exclaimed. He flopped dramatically onto the ground next to her, grinning up at her shocked face. “Wow, you actually look attractive from this angle!”

            Shock turned to anger. “Oh, you…!” Next thing he knew, a handful of grass was thrown in his face.

            Kokichi sputtered. “Ew!” he whined, rubbing his tongue with his scarf. “I think it got in my mouth…” Akamatsu huffed a laugh. Kokichi smiled. Well, it wasn’t much, but was better than letting her mope.

            “Should we really be so jovial?” Amami asked, darkening the lighter mood Kokichi created. He glared. “Sure, we managed to find the spy in our midst, but the Mastermind’s still out there.”

            “That just means we need a new plan,” Kokichi said before that guilty look could form on Akamatsu’s face. “Explore the new areas, get the new motive, then decide on a new plan. With Shirogane trapped and Keebo dead, we only have to worry about Monokuma and the cameras. It should only take a day or so; all we have to do is wait.”

            “Exploring… new areas?” Amami tilted his head inquisitively.

            “Oh, _yeah_ … forgot you knew nothing about the Killing Games… So, every time we solve a murder, new areas of the school open up, to keep us playing the game or something.”

            “That’s quite the reward system…” Amami cupped his chin. “It seems as though there are a lot more rules to the Killing Game than Monokuma has explained.”

            “I can write down what happened during the Killing School Life and Trip for reference, if you want,” Akamatsu suggested. “Saihara-kun gave me a notebook for the investigation, so I can just write a summary for you.”

            “That would be very helpful, Akamatsu-san. Thank you. But when should we meet next? After we’ve explored the new areas?”

            “Nah, I doubt we’ll find any obvious clues by then,” Kokichi said, waving his hand dismissively. “Let’s meet up when the motive shows up. Until then, we should try to get close to various people; to investigate them.”

            “Investigate them?” Akamatsu asked. “You want us to distrust our friends?”

            “Well, _duh_ ,” he scoffed. “We _have_ to. If not to figure out which one’s the Mastermind, then to figure out which one’s a threat. What if there’s another spy? What if there’s a serial killer?” Kokichi leaned in close, his breath hitting her face. “It doesn’t matter if they’re your friends, Akamatsu-chan. Junko Enoshima was Class ‘78’s friend too.”

            Akamatsu flinched back as though struck. Her eyes welled with tears. “You… you shouldn’t say things like that.”

            “Then don’t believe stupid things,” he hissed back. “Make friends with them, make them trust you, trust them yourself if you have to. But never forget that Monokuma has motives _specifically designed_ to bring out the worst in each of us.”

            Kokichi stood, looking down upon Akamatsu’s tears and Amami’s stoic look. He was done with this. “So make friends if you want. But someone’s going to kill again and you need to get that through your head before your neck is next on the chopping block.”

            He left them sitting in the grass, staring after him.


	10. In Which Rantaro Sips Some Tea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick warning to Saihara fans: Rantaro acts pretty cruel to him towards the end of the chapter. I have my reasons in this, which I think I have explained decently in text, but there will be a blunter explanation at the end of the chapter.

The morning after Mui Iruma’s execution, Rantaro entered the school only to hear the faint sound of music.

            He’d slept surprisingly well; not a single nightmare plagued him. He doubted it was the same for Akamatsu—she seemed sensitive, and the way she reacted to the execution last night only made her look more so. But then, why was she playing music so early in the morning, just after the morning bell rang? He paused at the base of the stairs. Could… could she have been up there all night?

            No… it couldn’t be… right? Sure, she’d gone off to her lab after the meeting last night, but she knew better than to stay out after a murder occurred. It was clearly dangerous; she had to see that.

            Right?

            Rantaro strode up the stairs, his legs shaking from containing the urge to run as the music switched to a more somber tune and  he pivoted around the second set of stairs. He rounded the corner, past the dragon statue, and—

            “Tojo-san?”

            The maid stood outside Akamatsu’s lab, a frown marring her face. She looked up when he spoke. “Oh, Amami-san. Were you drawn here by the music as well?”

            “Yes. Is Akamatsu-san in there?”

            “I… do not know.” She looked away. “I arrived here to get her in time for breakfast, however her door appears to be locked.”

            “Locked?” Rantaro repeated. “I didn’t know the doors in the main building even had locks.”

            “I thought the same, but apparently not. However, it doesn’t appear to be locked with a key.” Tojo was right; there was no place for a key, only a small hole in the doorknob. “It’s probably a button lock, or a thumb-turn.”  

            “Nee-heeheehee~!” A familiar laugh rang out as Oma poked his head out of one of the classrooms. He smiled sinisterly. “What’s that I hear? My precious Akamatsu-chan isn’t opening her door?” Oma skulked closer. “Oh, how worrying~! Something horrible could have happened! Like maybe Shirogane broke out in the middle of the night and murdered her! Or in a fit of despair, she took her own life—”

            “Forgive me, Oma-kun, but do you have a point to your rambling?” Tojo asked.

            Looking put out at their lack of reaction, he answered, “I just so happen to have my handy-dandy lockpicks with me, soooo instead of having to wait to see if she’s dead, we can go in riiiiiight now!” Without waiting for their agreement, Oma knelt in front of the door, took out a small kit, and started picking the lock.

            “Do you… pick locks often?” Rantaro asked.

            “Oh, all the time! I’m a Supreme Leader, after all; it’s only natural that I’d have skills like this.” The door clicked. “Easy-peasy!” he announced and threw open the door.

            Akamatsu sat slumped over brokenly at the piano as haunting music rang through the air.

            “ _Kaede!_ ” Rantaro pushed past the frozen Oma. She couldn’t be. She couldn’t be, not right after Iruma. His hand grabbed her shoulder and—

            “Mmm…?” Akamatsu shifted, raising her head up from her folded arms. “Amami-kun? What are you doing…?”

            “Oh, thank God,” Rantaro sighed in relief. Of course. Of course nothing happened, she was safe, she didn’t leave him.

            “Akamatsu-chan!!!” Oma cried, racing around Rantaro to latch onto the bleary-eyed girl. “I’m so happy you’re alright!! I was soooo worried!”

            “What…?” Akamatsu yawned. “Why…?”

            “…Don’t worry about it.”

            Tojo turned off the CD player in the back of the room, which had been the source of the ominous music. “I must say, I’m glad you’re alright, Akamatsu-san. However… have you been here all night?”

            “Yeah…” She yawned again, rubbing her eyes. “I just… wanted to play my piano for a bit… and write my notes for Amami-kun…” She removed the notebook from her backpack and held it out to him.

            Rantaro blinked in surprise. She’d already written it?

            “Yoink~!” Oma snatched the notebook out of Akamatsu’s hand and started flipping through it. “Oooh, what’s this? Akamatsu-chan’s love confessions? You already have Saihara-chan under your spell; do you have to take my beloved Amami-chan too?” He fake-glared at her. “Evil witch.”

            “Give me that!” Amami ripped it away from him. In retaliation, Oma ran crying from the room, sobbing about how cruel he was. Rantaro ignored him and turned back to Akamatsu. “I know you’re tired, Akamatsu-san, but we have to go downstairs.”

            Her head fell back into her arms. “Nooooo…” she moaned.

            “Yes…” He tried to pull her away from the piano, but she clung to the surface. “Come on, get up…” A smile drew his lips up regardless. Sometimes, Akamatsu really reminded him of his sisters, particularly Naoko and Hitomi. So much so, he didn’t even refrain himself. “Alright, you asked for it.”

            Rantaro scooped Akamatsu up into his arms and swept out of the lab. She squeaked and clutched his shirt as they went down the stairs, the rough jolts making her bounce in her arms. He fought a laugh. Ha! Try and stay asleep now!

            Soon they reached the kitchen and everyone watched as Rantaro sat Akamatsu down in one of the dining hall chairs. She looked fully awake now, her face flushed red. Was she okay? He looked up to see the other students staring at them. “What?”

            “Kukuku~…” Shinguji laughed. “To think Amami would begin so soon… and with Akamatsu-san, no less…”

            Begin? Begin with what? Before he could ask, Chibashida burst out. “Degenerate male! How dare you try to take advantage of Akamatsu-san like that?”

            “Wait, what?” Rantaro’s eyes widened. “No! It’s not like that at all!”

            “You say that, but it doesn’t change your face!” She pointed at him accusingly. “It’s the face of a lecherous male about to deflower a virginial girl!”

            “I’m not that kind of person,” Rantaro said, mask falling into place as a cold anger filled him. It was always like this; every time he did something kind, every time he showed a woman attention, he was accused of being a playboy. God forbid he do anything nice for a person. “Unless you have any proof of my wrongdoing, keep your accusations to yourself.”

            Chibashida looked like she would respond, but Momota put a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head. “Look man, I get it; Akamatsu-san’s a beautiful girl and all, but you can’t take advantage of a lady like that.”

Akamatsu huffed. "Geeze! You guys have it all wrong! I was sleeping up in my lab, but Amami-kun came to wake me up and get me downstairs."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean he has to carry you!" Saihara said. 

"I don't see what the big problem is," Rantaro told them. "I carry my sisters like that all the time. It doesn't mean anything weird."

"Rise and shine, Ursine!" 

Rantaro groaned at the arrival of the monokubs, only a tiny bit grateful that the green one had murdered the blue one last night through Iruma's execution. Maybe they'd continue killing each other off until even Monokuma was dead? No, that seemed too good to be true. 

"The only thing weird about last night is that you didn't end up getting murdered, toots!" The yellow one told Akamatsu, who drew away from its pointing paw. "The only reason we allowed it was because we thought we'd get another big case right on top of the one yesterday, but nooooo! All of yous all had to be cowards and not take the bait!"

"Oh, don't say things such as that!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Just the thought of having to experience another gory execution like that so soon makes me want to... want to..." It vomited all over itself. 

"Exact-ta-mundo!" Dropping down from the ceiling, Monokuma rolled along the table and sprung up like a gymnast. "Oh, what despair we could have had, having murder on top of murder! There would have barely been any time for you to rest!" The bear cackled. "But none of you damn kids even did anything! Seriously, I give you the entire school to wander around at night, all the murder weapons a blackened could ask for, and there was even a half-conscious girl bawling her eyes out, but none of you even attempted it!"

"To be fair, not everyone knew that Akamatsu-san had apparently separated herself in such a way," Shinguji said. 

"W-What!?" Chabashira screeched. "Did you just admit to wanting to murder Akamatsu-chan!? You disgusting slime!"

            Monokuma stomped his paw like a teenage girl. "All I'm hearing is excuses! At this rate, this will be the most boring season we've had to date! Well, no more! If you kids aren't going to use the wonderful means I've provided for you, then I'm going to start taking some away!" The bear's grin glinted ominously in the florescent light. "From now on, students who fall asleep anywhere other than the dorms get an immediate 'Game Over' and are gunned down by the Exisals!" 

Tojo's eyes narrowed. "And how exactly will you find out that information?"

"Upupupu... Let's just say I have my ways... Any who, since you've completed a class trial, I've decided, in my oh so loving mercy, to grant you access to the next level of the school! Monotaro! Give them the keys!"

"Eh???" The red bear tilted his head. "Keys? I don't have any keys."

"What I explicitly told you to hang onto them!! And you lost them!?"

"Don't worry, father!" The pink one rushed to placate Monokuma, pulling a variety of junk from a zippered pouch on her stomach. "I noticed Monotaro drop these earlier and picked them up just in case. Are these what you were looking for?"

"Obviously! Jesus, Monophanie, read the room." Monokuma took the junk from pinkie and laid them out on the table. There were four items: a hand crank, a red orb, a stone tablet, and an ocarina. "With these four keys, you'll be able to unlock new areas of the school and enhance your killing school life! So, get exploring! Sayonara, bitches!" And like that, Monokuma popped away, his children swiftly following him. 

"Well, that was pointless," Oma scoffed approaching the table. "All they did was give us some junk and bullshit about some new rule." He side-eyed Akamatsu. "Thanks for that, by the way."

"That wasn't her fault!" Saihara defended her. "She didn't know that her actions would cause a new rule to be put into play."

"It's not like it was that big of a loss anyway." Harukawa flipped a pigtail over her shoulder. "Other than the dorms, most rooms don't have locks. Even the kitchen, where we aren't supposed to be after dark, doesn't have one."

"That was probably done on purpose," Yumeno whined. "To make us slip up and accidentally get killed or something."

"So, what are we going to do with this crap anyway?" Momota asked, rubbing his head. "Monokuma said they were keys, but they don't look like they can unlock anything."

"They probably match up with different parts of the school," Hoshi explained. "What matters now is how we're going to explore them. After last night's murder, it's probably not such a good idea to go off in groups of two, so we should explore in four groups of three. But that would still leave one person alone..."

"Then one group will have four members. How shall we divide ourselves then?"

"Oh, oh! Tenko wants to go with Yumeno-chan!"

"Ehhh? But that would be so much work..."

Akamatsu frowned and, getting a pen out of her backpack, wrote something down on a napkin and ripped it up. She snatched Saihara's hat off his head, ignoring his surprised cry, and dumped the torn scraps into it before holding it out to the group. "Pick a number," she told them. "Whoever has the same number is in your group. After that, we can decide who gets each key."

Voting then... very clever. No one is allowed to choose who is on each team, so there is no change someone is left unattended. 

With few grumbles, Rantaro and his classmates choose a number from Saihara's hat. He got... "Group 1. Who else is in group 1?"

"It appears we share a group, Amami-kun." Tojo said, walking up to him. "I look forward to exploring with you."

Rantaro smiled back at her. He wasn't sure what, but something about Tojo made him affectionate towards her. Maybe it was the green hair... "I do as well."

"So, we're a group then?" Harukawa spoke from behind them and Rantaro jumped, having not heard her. "Then let's get this over with."

"W-Wait!" Saihara held up his hand. "Don't go yet; I'm in your group too!"

"So, we're the four group..." Rantaro turned to the other groups. Akamatsu was in a group with Momota and Shinguji. Good; Momota was already close to her, making it easier for her to make friends, and Shinguji looked like he needed a more feminine touch in order to open up. Oma, meanwhile, was in a group with Chabashira and Gokuhara... yikes. Hopefully, Gokuhara will keep him safe. The last group was Yumeno, Yonaga, and Hoshi—an unlikely trio, but Hoshi should be serious enough to keep Yonaga focused. 

Akamatsu clapped her hands, gaining everyone's attention. "Alright everyone! Now that we're all grouped up, who wants each key?"

"We'll take the orb," Rantaro said, picking it up. "I think I have a good idea of where it goes anyway."

"Okay then. Oma-kun?"

"Oh, I want the ocarina! I can be just like Link!"

"Filthy degenerate! That's no basis to pick a key from!"

"Guess we'll take the tablet then," Hoshi said, pulling down his cap. "Pretty sure I know where this goes."

"And that leaves us with the hand crank." Akamatsu made her determined pose, with her fist raised up. "Okay everyone! Now that we all have our keys, let’s get to work. In one hour, let's meet back here to discuss our findings, okay?"

"Better make it two," Hoshi said. "We have no idea what's waiting for us. Better search thoroughly now than later."

"Two hours, then. Any objections?"

No one seemed to have any and Rantaro's group said behind as the other three went out to search. "Amami-kun," Tojo said. "You mentioned that you knew where the orb could go?"

"Yeah. It's just upstairs." 

The others followed him to the dragon statue he had noticed during their first search of the school. At the time, he had thought nothing of it, but now he could see clearly that its outstretched hand was meant to hold something. Rantaro placed the orb there and the wall shook. "Stand back!" Rantaro ordered, alarmed. The ground rumbled and the wall behind the dragon collapsed into a pile of rubble, dust kicking up into the air. Rantaro coughed, waving his hand through the cloud. "Well, that was unexpected," he quipped, turning back to his group. He frowned. "Hey, where's Maki?"

"She already ran through," Saihara said. "Don't worry; I'll go find her and bring her back." Before Rantaro could protest, Saihara ran off into the dust. 

Rantaro sighed. "You know, we set groups of three for a reason..."

"Yes," Tojo replied, looking rather exasperated herself. "At least we can stick together, even if the rest do not."

"Yeah, at least there's that." He gestured to the giant hole in the wall. "Ladies first." Tojo nodded gracefully and entered the hole, Rantaro following after her. "Besides, even if Harukawa killed Saihara, it’s not as if it would be a difficult class trial."

"I wouldn't let Akamatsu-san hear you make jokes about that; she seems rather fond of the detective." Their footsteps echoed through the dusty hall. The architecture would look more at place in a Shakespearean play than a school. "And what makes you think that Harukawa would be the one to kill him? Perhaps Saihara could kill her."

"I doubt it. Saihara looks like an emo toothpick; Harukawa could probably break him with one hand." They rounded a corner only to come across an imposing, Victorian-style door. "Well, this seems to be a lab. I wonder who it belongs to?"

"I believe..." Tojo pushed past him and into the room. Rantaro entered behind her. 

The room continued the Victorian theme, with three pale green walls and one metal shudder, elaborate white molding curling around the edges. In the center of the room was a large mahogany table covered in beautiful china and decorated in plastic pastries. In the chairs were plastic people, mannequins that stared creepily ahead with fake smiles painted onto their faces. The mannequins consisted of a mother, a father, and two young children, both boys. Along the walls stood cabinets full of china and silver, shining bright and ready for use. Tojo stood in the center, taking it all in. "It is as I thought," she said. "This is my lab."

"Impressive..." Rantaro said, looking around. "Though, it is a little bit creepy. Who do you think they're supposed to be?" He pointed at the mannequins. 

Tojo looked away from the giant shudder to where he was pointing. "Oh. I do believe they are meant to represent my family."

He raised an eyebrow. Did she mean the last one she served or biological one? Either way, he guessed it didn't matter. "What's behind there?"

She drew the shudder back, revealing an entire wall of washing machines and driers, along with other miscellaneous cleaning supplies. "Ah! How fantastic! This shall greatly increase my abilities to serve you all. I am quite thankful; now I will no longer have to plan to wash everyone's clothes by hand."

Wait, she was planning to handwash all their clothes!? "Tojo-san, there's really no need for that," he said, holding out his hands in a placating way. "I'm sure if you just tell everyone where the washing machines are, they can do their own laundry. There's no need to force yourself to do all the work."

"I..." Tojo's face was shocked, as if no one had ever told her no before. "Thank you for the concern, Amami-kun, but there is no need for that. This is what I'm good for after all."

That was a peculiar way of saying that... and was very concerning. "I have to insist, Tojo-san. Please don't fight me on this." While he mostly just didn't want her to get into his things, the way she said that... that being a maid was what she was "good for", instead of the more natural "good at" was making him think... 

Still, he doubted she would tell him so early on in their acquaintanceship. He glanced around for something, anything else for them to talk about. His eyes landed on the cabinets. "There's so many tea sets in here." He wanted to slap himself. Of all the potential topics, he picked the cutlery!? 

But Tojo seemed to light up at the pathetic offering. "Oh, you're right. There are quite a few Averie’s... some Amsterdam’s and even a Royal Albert... and even a Wedgwood!" She went right up to the cabinet containing the Wedgwood, clearly identifiable from the floral design on white with curled edges. "It's absolutely beautiful... it's always been my favorite style, even though I didn't grow up using them." 

"My family owns several Wedgwoods," Rantaro offered. He liked the way her face looked now, excited instead of the resigned countenance she had went talking about her duty. "In fact, I think they're the only tea cups we own. When we escape from here, would you like to come visit?" He hadn't returned to his family's estate in years, but if he could give Tojo a reason to want to escape, something that couldn't happen if she murdered another, would she be willing to work together with the group. 

She smiled back at him. "That... would be nice," she said wistfully, a finger rubbing her bottom lip. "Still, we should probably catch up to Saihara and Harukawa." The side of her mouth quirked up. "Before Harukawa kills him, of course."

They left the room together and Rantaro smiled, feeling like he and Tojo had just grown closer together. They continued down the hall, passing through an area that looked down at the floor below. "Looks like that's the entrance hall," he said. Still there was something strange about it that he only now noticed after being above the hall. There's something wrong with a group of stones... Well, he could investigate it later. Shrugging, they walked further down the echoing hall until they came to a dead end. The only things that were there were a door covered in insect patterns and the stairs leading up. Rantaro approached the door. "Should we open—"

Saihara rushed out the door and slammed it behind him, breathing hard. "Don't... go in there," he said, eyes darting. 

Rantaro frowned. "What's in there?" Weapons? An Exisal? Another motive?

"Bugs," he breathed out. "Just tons of bugs, everywhere. I think that's Gonta's lab." 

Tojo grimaced. "I believe we can wait for Gokuhara-san to be here before investigating thoroughly. Shall we continue?"

They went up the stairs and were immediately confronted by another lab door and another long hallway. "Guess that's Hoshi's lab." Saihara nodded towards the tennis rackets imbedded into the door. "Harukawa is probably at the end. Tojo-san, why don't you go talk to her? She... doesn't seem to like me very much..." 

"Harukawa doesn't like anyone very much," Rantaro pointed out. 

Saihara flushed. "Still... It would probably be better if Tojo-san talk to her. She just... she has this way of making people act nice to her. As long as that's okay, Tojo-san?"

Saihara clearly didn't want Tojo around for some reason. Did he want to talk to him? Very well, Rantaro would make it easier on him. "He kind of has a point, Tojo-san. If anyone can get through to her, I think it would be you."

She sighed, but looked strangely pleased at the praise. "If you believe it would be for the best, then I shall go, Saihara-kun, Amami-kun. Just make sure to search Hoshi-kun's lab thoroughly."

"We will!" Rantaro cheerfully waved Tojo off and entered the Ultimate Tennis Player's room. Tennis balls covered the floor as an automatic machine hit them all across the room. The smile dropped from his face as he turned to face Saihara. "Now... what do you want?"

Saihara seemed nervous, but fixed his hat and stood up straight. "I... I want to know what your intentions are towards Akamatsu-san!"

Really? He was still hung up about that? Rantaro wanted to roll his eyes, but refrained. He might be able to get more information out of Saihara if he 'played the villain,' so to speak. Their group already had Akamatsu on Saihara's side, so how would he react to having an enemy more threatening than Oma? So, instead of letting his natural reactions take over, Rantaro arranged a mask over his face and narrowed his eyes at Saihara. "I'm unsure of what you're talking about, Saihara-kun. Please—" he stepped closer, and Saihara stepped back— "explain."

Saihara swallowed. "Just last night, Akamatsu-san tried to... tried to... harm you. But this morning, you're acting affectionate towards her, like you don't hold any hard feelings towards her."

"Who's to say I do?" Rantaro shrugged. "She didn't throw the shotput ball and I didn't die, so I have no reason to be mad at her. Why do you think my reaction is so suspicious?"

"Because everything about you is suspicious!" Saihara jabbed his finger at him. "Your missing Ultimate status, your memory of this so-called 'Ultimate Hunt,' your vague backstory... none of it makes sense! And now you're trying to get close to Akamatsu-san, even after she... she..." He couldn't finish it. "By my deduction, if anyone's the Mastermind, it's probably you!" 

"Except for the fact that Shirogane tried to kill me... But you need to relax," Rantaro waved his hand flippantly, even as rage sparked in his stomach. Who did Saihara think he was, accusing _him_ of being the _Mastermind_ , when he was the one working hardest to stop them! "What happened involving Akamatsu-san doesn't matter. It was an accident; I can't blame her for trying to stop the Mastermind when I was planning to do something similar. It's not like we're both cozying up to Oma-kun or Shirogane. Unless..." A dark smile crawled across his face. "You really more concerned over the fact that Akamatsu-san betrayed you, right?"

"W-What!?" Saihara flinched back. 

"That's it, isn't it? Akamatsu-san didn't trust you, and so she betrayed you. And now you're... what? Threatening me? Trying to ensure she'll want to trust you again? Please," he scoffed. "As if such a shallow effort will win her back." 

"You're wrong! Akamatsu-san does trust me!" 

"Then why did she try to kill someone last night, hmm?"

"S-She was just scared, I can't blame her for that!"

"And who allowed her to get so scared? Who created a foolish plan that had so many ways to go wrong?" Rantaro tapped his chin, voice cruel. "Oh, right, that was you... After all, how exactly did you expect to catch the Mastermind? With your bare hands? Did you think that simply seeing them would be enough to stop the killing game? You never even considered that the Mastermind was listening in on your plan or that they would have another entrance into their secret room." A secret entrance that they now had to find, he'd forgotten about that. "But you know what? It was probably bound to happen anyway. After all, what else could you expect from an Ultimate who'd only solved one murder before."

Saihara looked shocked. "How'd you know about that!?"

Rantaro waved it off. "I overheard you tell Akamatsu-san the other day. And I have to admit, you only made yourself more unreliable by telling her that; no wonder she didn't trust you." Bending over, Rantaro grabbed a tennis ball and started tossing it idly in the air. "You put away one murderer and the look on his face shakes your resolve to the point where you decided to never solve another. Honestly, how did you manage to get the title of Ultimate Detective?"

"You don't understand! The look on his face, realizing what revealing the truth really meant—"

"Oh, I understand," Rantaro said, throwing the tennis ball as hard as he could, muscles shaking with rage. The nerve of this boy! "I understand that being an Ultimate requires hard work. Tell me, how many competitions do you think Akamatsu-san had to win before she got her title as Ultimate Pianist? How many people did Chabashira-san have to fight? Do you think Shinguji-kun just walked into a museum one day and told them about an artifact he found, or that Yumeno-san preformed one magic show before the powers that be declared her Ultimate Magician? Everyone here is more qualified for their Ultimate status than you are." 

Even Rantaro was more qualified than Saihara, and he didn't even know what his quirk was! Growing up, in between country hopping with his father and siblings, he was always placed into schools filled with the richest kids around. His classmates would brag about the professional race horses their parents bought them, or how much their houses were worth, but never did anything themselves. Or worse, their efforts and accomplishments were funded by their parent's money. As in, they were only accomplishments because of their parents' money. 

But Rantaro had been different. Between traveling the world, getting in trouble with law enforcement in at least three countries, and getting shot at by the yakuza seven times, Rantaro could safely say that his accomplishments, as futile as they were at getting his sisters back, were still his, not his father's. He didn't need his father, or anyone for that matter. But here was Saihara, who clearly didn't get here through his own merit. 

Rantaro leaned in close, eyes narrowing. Saihara was sweating. "You know what I think? I think that if you go around pointing the finger at people, saying that they're the Mastermind... well, they might just point the finger right back." Saihara gulped. "And who do you think the others are going to believe? An unreliable detective who's already been wrong once? Or the mysterious guy who even the group's leader trusts?" Rantaro stepped away and started walking out. He paused in the doorway. "Think about that for a bit, okay?" 

He let the door close behind him, softly instead of slamming it like he wanted to do. Of course, he didn't actually think Saihara was the Mastermind; the guy was way too wimpy. Unless he was secretly the Ultimate Actor, there's no way he could pull it off... probably. But still, being accused of being the Mastermind... it got under his skin like no other insult he'd ever suffered. He had to calm down. A deep breath was taken, held, and let go. Again. Again. Ag—

"Amami-kun?" He opened his eyes—when had he closed them?—to see Tojo walking back down the hall towards him. "Are you done already? Where's Saihara-kun?"

"He's still searching. We... had a disagreement." That was an understatement. It was difficult keeping the cruel tone he'd used with Saihara out of his voice. "Anyway, what did you and Harukawa-san find on your end?"

"Apparently, the lab there belongs to Harukawa."

"Apparently?"

"Yes." She smoothed her dress, a nervous habit. "However, I only know what the door looks like—a plain dull red. I have no idea what it looks like; she never let me inside. Even now, she refuses to leave it."

Huh. That was weird. Fairly suspicious; he'd have to tell Oma and Akamatsu later. "Must be a really fun lab if she doesn't want to leave it. She's the Ultimate Child Caretaker, right? Maybe she's playing with toys."

"I cannot imagine such a thing."

Rantaro took a step towards the stairs and Tojo followed as they began their return to the kitchen. Their walk together was peaceful, neither one straining to catch up with the other. He truly enjoyed spending time with Tojo, it almost completely destroyed the anger he had felt at Saihara. "I never said they were those sorts of toys, did I?" he said with a wink. 

Tojo's eyes widened and she flushed. "Amami-kun! That's highly inappropriate!" 

He laughed. Who would have thought Tojo was affected by those types of comments? She'd taken them so well from Iruma. "She does bring it on herself, being so antisocial. Still, I don't mean any harm it." He held up his hands innocently. 

"That doesn't make that sort of language any less vulgar." 

"I get it, I get it!" He laughed. "If you keep going on like that, people are going to start calling you 'mom,' do you want that?"

She paled. "Absolutely not. I will... keep your advice in mind."

They walked back pleasantly chatting with one another and when they returned to the kitchen, they weren't the first group back. Chabashira and Gokuhara were arm-wrestling while Hoshi kept watch. Rantaro sighed. "You know, the point of splitting into groups was so no one would be alone," he complained to no one as Tojo disappeared into the kitchen. 

Hoshi was the only one who answer. "Hey, it's not like your group stayed together either."

"It's still the principal of the matter!" Rantaro took the seat across from Hoshi. "Harukawa ran off right away and Saihara decided to accuse me of being the Mastermind so I left. What happened to yours?"

"We found Yumeno-san's lab," he said like that was all that needed to be said. "She and Yonaga-san are still there." 

"And what about Chabashira and Gokuhara?"

"They were here when I got here. They found a pool and the moment they opened the door, Oma complained about how boring it was and ran off."

"That... does sound like Oma-kun."

"Hmm..." Hoshi leaned back in his chair, toying with his candy cigarette. "You should probably relax; I'm getting the feeling that the rest aren't going to be back for a while."

Tojo exited the kitchen holding a tea tray and placed it on the table. "I hope you don't mind, but I took the trouble of pouring some tea. Please allow this to tide you over until I manage to salvage breakfast."

Rantaro nodded and took a cup. "Thank you, Tojo-san." Reaching into his pocket, Rantaro began to read the notebook Akamatsu wrote for him. Now, time to see what all this despair business was about. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for such a long hiatus! School and depression have been killer, however I think I figured out a great way to keep the words coming so expect more updates soon! This fic is far from over!
> 
> Now, as for why Rantaro seems to hate Shuichi, the reason has two parts.   
> 1) Rantaro sees Shuichi as someone who hasn't earned his position as a Ultimate since he's only ever solved one murder (This is something I kind of agree with since the first Ultimate Detective, Kyoko Kirigiri, far outclasses Shuichi). Rantaro grew up surrounded by people who's parents gave them everything and considering how much he hates his dad, he can't stand people who relied so much on their parents. He thinks these people never 'earned' their position.   
> 2) Shuichi accused Rantaro of being the Mastermind, something that repulses Rantaro. He sees himself as doing the most to try and stop the killing game. Shuichi seriously offended him with this accusation and Rantaro refuses to be slandered by what he sees as baseless suspicion, and threatened to do the same to Shuichi. 
> 
> Rantaro's opinions are opinions; they're his own thoughts and beliefs, not a reflection on reality.


	11. In Which Kaede Makes a Bet

            “So you think the crank goes here?” Kaede inspected the hexagonal alcove imbedded in the giant wall outside.

            “Totally!” Momota threw up a thumbs up. “The indentation is practically a match!”

            Shinguji sighed. “Very well. It’s not like there is a great many other places to search.”

            Geeze, why’d she have to get stuck with these two? Shinguji and Momota were fine on their own—to her, at least, though Kaede knew the other girls found Shinguji creepy—but together they emitted a weird tension that made her nervous. She shook her head. She shouldn’t worry about that now; they had to explore! They probably just weren’t used to working together, she told herself. It would be a good bonding experience!

            The crank fit into the indentation and turning it lowered a piece of the wall into the ground. How dramatic.

            The wall had revealed a set of stairs and at the bottom of the stairs was a court yard with two buildings in the distance, both covered in neon lights. The first was clearly labeled ‘Casino’ while the other was… “’Hotel Kumasutra’?” Shinguji read. “How interesting… it appears Monokuma has decided to give us a love hotel.”

            Kaede grimaced. Really? A casino and… and a love hotel!? They were teenagers!

            Momota hesitated before striding down the path to the hotel. “Well, we’re going to have to check it anyway, right?” Kaede hurried after him; they had to stick together. When Momota reached the door, he tugged on the handle, but it didn’t move. “It’s locked!”

            “Did you trying pushing it?” Shinguji suggested.

            Glaring at Shinguji, Momota pushed the door with nothing happening.

            “Okay!” Kaede clapped, drawing attention to try to keep them from fighting. “Since we don’t have to deal with that, let’s check out the Casino!”

            “Alright.”

            “That’s fine by me.”

            She sighed with relief and led them away from the hotel, glad that they didn’t have to search the hotel and that Momota and Shinguji didn’t argue with her. Or with each other.

            But it would be fine! Sure, they might never be best friends or anything, but she could a least make sure they got along. Something to bond over in the long run.

            Pushing open the heavy doors, the trio walked into the ritzy hall. The walls and collums glittered with huge stairs taking the focus of the room. The carpet was a rich red, plush and lush, almost like Iruma’s fresh blood… Kaede shook her head.

            On the far side of the room, behind the stairs, seemed to be a prize corner and an exchange corner. Momota read the exchange corner rules aloud. “Each student must have a Gamecard in order to play in the casino. Each student can only have one Gamecard; no replacements shall be issued. To gain credits, exchange Monocoins at the exchange corner. One Monocoin is the equivalent of 10 credits. Students can gain more credits for free by earning good scores on games.” Momota nodded. “Seems to be a well thought out system—are you writing this down?”

            Kaede looked up from her notebook. “Yeah, in case it becomes important later.”

            “Is that why we stopped by the warehouse first?”

            Kaede ignored him. “So how do we get our Gamecards? There’s only a blank screen and an ATM.” She touched the screen and it lit up, scanning her hand and spitting out a card with her face on it. “Huh. Convenient.”

            Shinguji and Momota got their cards too and, using the Monocoins Kaede’s found throughout their time in the school, they’d each gained 300 credits apiece. She glanced at the prize corner. Was it worth trying to write down all the prizes? There seemed to be a lot, too much to note down quickly—jewelry, strange toys, flags, high-end headphones that she was determined to buy as soon as possible. She’d have to come back later with a camera.

            The cameras! She nearly cursed aloud. They’d completely forgotten about the cameras in the library! They had to get them before Monokuma did; the photos might have captured how Shirogane snuck past her and Saihara. There could have been a secret entrance, maybe, that could lead to a way out! Or, at the very least, there could be clues to the Mastermind. She had to get a hold of them.

            But first, they had to investigate! Kaede rushed down the stairs and jolted to a stop, her eyes starting to sparkle. It was more of an arcade then a casino! Sure, a handful of slot machines were in the middle, but there was so much more than that: color puzzles, and fishing games, and was that—“Rowdy Road Rider 300!?” She gasped. “This isn’t supposed to be out for another year! What’s it doing here?”

            Momota rubbed the back of his head. “You, uh… like driving games, Akamatsu-san?”

            “Kind of?” She shrugged, unwilling to take her eyes off the arcade game. “I like driving. My father taught me and my sister how once when we were in Hawaii and I’ve loved it ever since. But it’s illegal for me to drive in Japan until I’m an adult and Papa doesn’t really like it whenever I do something he thinks is dangerous, so I’m stuck with driving games. Rowdy Road Rider is the most realistic in the genre.”

            “You have a sister as well?” Shinguji cocked his head. “Is she older or younger?”

            “Yeah! We’re twins actually.”

            “Hold on, hold on,” Momota interrupted. “Wait, you said Father and Papa? Which one is it?”

            “It’s both.” The bluntness in her voice took him aback. In the few years she had been in primary school before her piano career took off and she was homeschooled, kids made fun of her for having two dads. She couldn’t stand those people, and if Momota was one of them, she’d give him an earful! “My dads are married.”

            “So, you and your sister grew up in a homosexual household? How fascinating,” Shinguji said, holding a hand up to his mouth.

            “No, just me. My sister and I were adopted by different families, but out families were close anyway so we grew up together.”

            “How exquisitely complex. I love it,” Shinguji laughed. “Especially since gay marriage only recently became legal after the Tragedy. Despite the fact that homosexuality in Japan has drifted in and out of the taboo realm for years, if they had been alive two hundred years ago, your fathers would have most likely been executed. But now they are allowed to raise a daughter together… All thanks to Komaru Naegi. As expected of the Ultimate Hope’s younger sister.”

            “Oh, you knew that? Most people assume that Makoto Naegi brought the proposition up when Future Foundation was rewriting the laws once Ultimate Despair was defeated.”

“Don’t think me so naïve, Akamatsu-san. I have studied the romance that bloomed between Komaru Naegi and her wife, Toko Fukawa, for ages. I know everything, from Naegi’s petition towards the Future Foundation, to their every documented exploit within the depths of Towa City. Truly, the fact that such love could flourish from literal hell on Earth is a sign of humanity’s beauty at its finest!”

            Okay, maybe Kaede was starting to understand what the other girls meant when they called him weird. But this was the first time anyone outside of the Conspiracy, as Kaede started calling the meet-ups in the grass, had mentioned the Tragedy at any length. “I didn’t know you knew so much about modern events, Shinguji-kun.”

            “What can I say? The sociology of today is the anthropology of tomorrow!”

            That didn’t sound right, but Kaede didn’t know enough about either topics to really dispute it either. That, and she didn’t like the glint in his eye. “If you say so.” Maybe they should get back on track. “If there’s nothing left down here, we should go meet back with the others.”

            “ _Ooooooooor_ , we can stay and play a while!” Kaede groaned as Oma descended the stairs, Gamecard in one hand. “Come on, it’s a casino! Why not play a few rounds on the slots?”

            “Oma-kun, we decided to go in groups so no one would be left alone.” Of course he didn’t listen. Of course. Why couldn’t he go bother Amami’s group!?

            “~Yeah, but that’s _boring_.” He pouted, draping his torso over the handrail. “I wanna do something fun! Like maybe… challenging Momota-chan to a gambling competition! I bet that I can win more credits in 20 turns that he can!”

            Maybe if Kaede hit her head against the wall hard enough, she’d black out. Momota took the bait and rose to Oma’s challenge. “Hell yeah! And if I win, you have to tell the truth for the rest of the week!”

            “And if I win… _Momota-chan has to be my slave for the rest of the Killing Game. **Deal**?_ ”

            “Deal! Be prepared to lose, Kokichi!”

            Kaede’s head fell to her hands. “Momota-kun… you need to stop enabling him…”

            Shinguji shook his head. “It appears as though we’ve already lost him. Shall we go see what Oma-kun has done to Chabashira-san and Gokuhara-kun?”

            “No, they’re probably fine. Leaving Oma-kun alone with Momota-kun though…” Even though they’ve only interacted for a few days, Kaede could tell that they were a volatile pair.

            “So, we’re stuck here until they’re done then.”

            “Pretty much.”

            “At least this shouldn’t take too long.”

            Momota’s voice rang through the basement. “You no fair, you definitely cheated! Start over!”

            “I wouldn’t bet on it.”

           

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: So this was mostly world building, sue me. I wanted a Kaede chapter that was less than 3000 words for once.
> 
> Also, I made some crappy art. http://allietheepicwriter7.tumblr.com/post/182537400310/the-truth-we-pursue-chapter-3


End file.
